Reel or Real?
by of self
Summary: One fine evening, they are happily ensconced in their homes, in the real world. Then cue thunder and lightning, and suddenly everything goes black. What's happening? Sonny/Chad. AU. Complete.
1. Unbelievable

**Unbelievable.**

//

"It's all your fault!" Sonny screeched, shoving a sheaf of papers – the script for a new sketch— at Chad's chest.

"My fault?" Chad asked, catching the script and setting it down on the couch. "If I remember right, you were the one that went whining to Marshall about your 'brilliant' new idea."

Sonny paced angrily around the prop room while Chad tried -and failed- to keep up. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned – though maybe he should substitute 'scorned' with "angry at her producer."

"If I knew it was going to involve you, I would have kept my mouth shut." Sonny said with barely concealed dislike.

"You should be honored that I would come do your silly sketch and dance around trees with you," Chad threw back after hastily searching his head for comebacks.

"Well maybe I prefer dancing alone."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Oh, I think we've established it's fine," Sonny said, stomping out of the room and leaving a very irritated Chad to fume about why in the name of all things handsome he had to have a crush on Sonny Munroe of all people. There were plenty of other girls-- prettier girls-- he could like. But _no_, he had to go and pick the most difficult and annoying one. Cupid had gotten it so wrong! There was never a more ill matched pair than them.

And if it weren't for the way her hair shone when it bounced or how her eyes sparkled when she fought with him, he wouldn't even be here on this stupid set arguing about the new sketch he had somehow tricked Marshall into allowing him to do. Okay tricking Marshall had been pretty easy, he just bribed him with free stays for him and Ms. Bitterman at the Four Seasons-- its best room accompanied by champagne and strawberries. Chad chose not to question what Marshall wanted to do with all of that though. There were some images that your brain could live very well without.

But what he had not been prepared for was the actual sketch. The sketch was called something like Kitne Door, Kitne Pas, a Hindi title which he had no idea how to pronounce. Heck, he didn't even what it meant. Sonny had told but he had been a little distracted at the sight of her all dolled up to pay any attention to what was coming out of her mouth. He has noticed her blood red lipstick though, just not the words. The sketch was a parody of a Bollywood movie, films made in India that are known for colorful song and dance sequences. Granted there were a lot of pretty ladies in those sequences but the dance steps were a little tiring. They involved weird contortions and were not at all what he considered dance steps.

Whatever happened to just grooving to the music? Why did you have to shake your groove thang like there was no tomorrow?

He simply couldn't fathom it.

On the plus side he did get to see Sonny draped in around six yards of gauzy fabric, with flattering sections of skin showing (even though she seemed covered at the same time). He really had to hand it to these Bollywood guys; they were wicked clever. They totally knew how to bring on the sexy.

The sight of Sonny draped in a red chiffon sari had Chad salivating. He even took a few photos to add to his private shrine of her. Yes, he had a private Sonny-shrine. What was wrong with that? He was a teenage boy, with teenage hormones. And the sight of Sonny in gauzy fabric really didn't help the situation any. How many teenage boys aren't ruled by hormones at one point or another?

None.

Yeah, that's what he thought too.

He groaned and stalked away to his dressing room on the other side of the lot. Sonny Munroe was going to be the death of him and his sanity. Wait, yeah she was also severely testing his self control and one day they would drag him off the set for going completely and totally crazy.

Oh joy.

//

Sonny paced furiously in her room. The Bollywood sketch idea had been genius! They could have gotten any outside actor to play the role of the dashing romantic hero who would save the damsel in distress but would cruelly interrupted by the lack of meadows to frolic in. (Meadows to frolic in were a pre-requisite for all Bollywood movies). Then, after the hero and heroine declared their love, they would further cement it by running through the meadow and having a song and dance sequence probably accompanied by rain.

She had been picturing someone along the lines of Edward Cullen for the role. He was starring in Twidark and even Tawni agreed he was smoking hot. What with those eyes and that hair and that pale skin and god, those red lips, he was the very epitome of Greek God without all the golden hair, sun kissed nonsense bit. He was more of the dark broody, angsty tortured kind of heartthrob. Simply delectable.

Yeah, Edward Cullen would have been a nice addition and she would have so gladly danced around the trees with him. And he could probably be shirtless, maybe in the rain, with water dripping down his body…damn that would send her into cardiac arrest and she needed to be awake in order to gaze at him with adoring eyes…that would be her dream come true.

Instead here she was stuck with obnoxious Chad Dylan Cooper who kept going on and on and on about himself and himself alone.

That boy, simply put, was a pain in the behind. Okay, she did feel attracted to him once in a while and yes, she did feel like kissing him every now and then but it was all because he made her so mad that she couldn't think straight. She was convinced he was working some evil spell on her that caused her attraction to him. 'Cause it didn't feel right to be attracted to someone who annoyed you so, did it? It was like each time they argued, she felt certain sensations which were completely contrary to what she thought about him.

(Actually that's sort of thing was called UST, something Chad was plenty aware of, while poor Sonny continued to delude herself about its non existence.)

For instance, that day she had the weirdest thought. She had been arguing with Chad about which show was better and it was getting to be a very interesting argument which meant that she had the upper hand when suddenly she had gone off on a tangent and begun to think of Chad in swimming trunks. She didn't know why it was happening and she sure as hell had no idea why she would think of Chad in swimming trunks but the fact of the matter was that she had thought of him and also decided that he looked quite good in them.

It had been another matter entirely that she cut their conversation short and run to the bathroom. Chad had at least one redeeming quality though-- he did look good and he did use raspberry chapstick which was one of her favorite fruit flavors.

But then that didn't make this whole thing with Chad any better. He might use raspberry chapstick and he might look fantastic in swimming trunks but it would not change the fact that he was a pain in her behind.

A thorn is her neatly ordered life.

She sighed and popped in a DVD. As practice for the sketch she was watching as many Bollywood movies as she could. And so far she loved them all. Sure they had a bit too much gore and sometimes were a little too cheesy but in the end they were unbelievably fulfilling. Happy endings were handed all around and those were her kind of movies.

She was half way through watching the movie when the power went off. She was prepared to wait it out for a while and decided she would just close her eyes, not go to sleep but just relax. However before she knew it she was fast asleep.

//

Outside the wind began howling and lightning forked through the sky, illuminating the figure of the sleeping girl at odd moments. It seemed like ominous portents were thundering in the sky, warning of something about to happen. Electricity crackled but Sonny remained blissfully unaware and fast asleep.

Somewhere else, in a much bigger mansion, Chad Dylan Cooper, uneasily stirred in his sleep. He had fallen asleep watching _So Random!_ reruns. The thunder rumbled and it began pouring rain. Lightning which had so far been coming in tiny bolts increased in frequency and intensity.

Suddenly there was a particularly loud crack of thunder followed by a lightning bolt of enormous voltage. It forked into two shards--hitting two places. The homes of Sonny Munroe and Chad Dylan Cooper.

With that climactic strike of lightning, the storm disappeared -- leaving only the gently falling rain. Sonny and Chad rolled over in their sleep, unaware that something big had happened.

Something very big.

* * *

Thanks to my wonderful beta **faerietaleredux**, for giving me an awesome prompt, which was Bollywood and then going over the chapter and giving me awesome suggestions. :)

Refrence Guide -

Kitne Door, Kitne Pas - So Far, So Near, in Hindi.

Sari - six yards of fabric, worn by draping around one's self, traditional Indian women's clothing and is widely worn in India.

Bollywood - name for the Hindi film industry.

That's about it, if there are any doubts or questions, please do ask and I'll clear them.

There are also references to a SWAC episode which seems to have been shown only in India. It's called "Guess Who's Coming to Guest Star?" That's wear the Twidark bit comes from. That's not the only reference but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave it at that.

Finally, I dont claim anything but the plot. :)


	2. Waking Up, Freaking Out

**Waking Up, Freaking Out.**

//

Sonny blinked groggily. It was still dark and she couldn't see properly. She figured the electricity was still out. She felt about, realizing she wasn't on her couch. Whatever was below her was prickly and there was something big lying next to her.

The wisps of sleep fogging her brain cleared away. She prodded the thing beside her and realized it was warm and solid—almost like a person.

A person?

She was supposed to be in her own house and she was supposed to be alone! Sudden fear crept into her mind. Had she been kidnapped by some diabolical person who planned on holding her hostage until Marshall gave into his evil demands? The figure beside her stirred and Sonny screamed in fear.

//

Chad lazily stretched. The mattress below him felt lumpy and rough, which was impossible because his mattress was covered with thousand strand Egyptian cotton, soft and smooth to the touch. He wasn't on his bed. But if he wasn't on his bed, where was he?

A loud scream of terror next to him made him sit up quickly.

He noticed a figure a little distance away from him, still screaming in an ear-splitting manner. Her screams frightened him and he began screaming too. He was in a foreign place, all by himself, with only some crazy loon for company. He had every freaking reason to scream.

At that very moment, a rooster crowed and the sun began to rise, casting faint rays of sunlight all around.

Sonny and Chad momentarily stopped screaming, confused by the addition of a rooster into the mix. They then noticed each other sitting on opposite sides of each other. The look on their faces was the same— utter confusion. Here they were in the middle of who-knows-where with only each other and a random rooster for company.

What was going?

//

Sonny stared at Chad who was sitting some distance away from her, looking sleepily confused. She looked around her, trying to process her surroundings. She was in a field, lying under a tree, next to bale of hay, with Chad Dylan Cooper for company.

How the heck did she end up in a field with _him_? And what was Chad wearing? A pair of tight pants and a long tunic? Wait! Did he have a small blonde mustache on his face? So strange.

She pinched herself once or twice, hoping that she was hallucinating or simply in the midst of a dream gone very very wrong.

Meanwhile Chad watched Sonny from a distance, curiously. He was a stuck in a strange place with only Sonny Munroe for company. What on earth were the odds of that happening? Also why was she wearing her red sari from the Bollywood sketch? And why did his upper lip feel itchy. His fingers felt his upper lip and found some fuzz instead of a smooth hairless lip.

Chad jumped up and screeched in horror.

"I have a mustache!" he shouted horrified, "quick, I need a mirror," Chad said urgently, trying to rip off the mustache. But it only caused him pain and refused to come off.

"Firstly, I _know_ and secondly, I think a mirror is the least of our worries now," Sonny retorted. Trust Chad to trivialize everything.

Sonny tried getting up and promptly tripped over her dress, which was made of slippery chiffon. Wait, last night she had gone to bed wearing her cow jammies. Now she was in a—_sari_?

"Argh! This is so weird!" Sonny shouted, hastily getting up and trying to stop the sari from slipping all over the place. She adjusted the longer end of the sari, over her shoulder, making sure her chest was securely covered. Sure she was wearing a blouse, but the blouse was short and she didn't feel like giving Chad a view of her midriff or covered chest.

"Really Sonny, is it really?" Chad asked mockingly, but as soon as Sonny glared at him, he lost the mocking gaze. He sighed. "You're right. Something is definitely wrong."

"No kidding," Sonny responded despondently as she knotted up her hair and viciously pinned it. She had – she looked at her feet—_slippers_ instead of shoes. Well at least her feet were covered and she wasn't wearing heels that would have just been a disaster waiting to happen.

"Come on, let's go check the place out and try to figure out where we are," Sonny suggested as she took a few slow steps forward. She wasn't too confident of walking around in a sari. From what the stylist had told her, it required years of practice and if not that, a certain amount of finesse to walk around in it, without doing a face-plant.

"Go where Sonny? We don't know this place. What if we get lost?" Chad enquired sarcastically, dusting his back and removing the straw that clung to him.

"We might at least find someone and maybe we could ask for help because I sure as hell know that a rooster won't tell us where we are. Besides what if we were kidnapped or something? This would be our chance to get away from the kidnapper. So either you come willingly, or I drag you along by the ear." Sonny said grimly with a hand on her hip.

Chad sighed petulantly. Sonny was behaving exactly like a teacher. A very hot teacher though. No, he first needed to get the heck out of here. Only when he was at home would he allow himself the luxury of thinking Sonny centric thoughts. For now, he was just her rival, handsome Chad Dylan Cooper from Mackenzie Falls, USA's number one teen drama. He smirked at that, he sure was handsome and Mackenzie Falls was definitely the USA's number one teen drama. People simply couldn't resist a show with pretty people like him angsting over other pretty people.

Sonny was still glaring at him and he hastily started forward. He didn't want to be subject to Sonny's particular form of ear torture. He was willing to undergo other kinds of torture by her though. He smacked his head. There was no time for those kinds of thoughts.

Sonny lead the way and Chad couldn't help but notice that, her hips seemed to sway in a sari. The motion was undulating and very soothing.

"Stop looking at my butt," Sonny called out testily and Chad colored guiltily.

Damn, she had eyes even at the back of her head.

//

Sonny held up the front of her sari, before walking forward. This had been the third time where she had almost presented her face to the ground. She brought the loose end of the sari around and tucked it into her waist. _There_, that was better. She didn't have any odd bits of fabric flying around.

Once or twice, Chad had to help her up a particularly tricky slope and each time, she put her hand in his she felt like blushing. It was all very awkward.

She had to admit though; Chad looked very fetching in his clothes. And the mustache gave him a dashing air.

Just exactly how an old school romantic Bollywood hero was supposed to look like.

//

Chad was now walking ahead of her and Sonny was beginning to get tired. It was early morning and the sun was relentless. She was sweating. Her bangs were plastered to her face and she un-tucked the loose end of her sari and wiped her face before tucking it in again.

"Sonny, I think we reached civilization!" Chad called out excitedly. Sonny raced ahead excitedly and came up to Chad who was now staring at the scene ahead of him with a mixture of confusion and horror.

Sonny's expression mirrored his. They were standing at the edge of what seemed to be a town square. But it wasn't just any town square. There were stray cows walking around, buffalos being herded by men wearing cloth wrapped around their waists and turbans around their head and women walking around with pots on their head, wearing saris.

Small shops were opening and their owners were calling out to each other in a language that was not English.

Everything was colorful and loud and _so_ foreign.

Sonny clutched Chad's arm in fright and Chad drew her closer to him. Where the heck were they, he wondered, looking around in confusion. Sonny voiced both of their fears in a small voice.

"Chad, I have a feeling we're not in Hollywood anymore."

* * *

I'm a bad bad person and updating this when I should be updating others. But the chapter was done, so why not?Once again many thanks to **faerietaleredux** for her brilliance.

Reference-

Turbans - I sure people are aware but I'll say it anyways. Headgear worn by men. Basically a cloth wrapped securely around the head.

And finally, all I own is the plot dudes, being broke and a student doesn't allow for much owning of TV rights.


	3. At Last Realization

This chapter requires a little suspension of belief so please do utilize that. :)

* * *

**At Last Realization.**

//

As Sonny stared around in confusion trying to take in her surroundings with Chad tightly gripping her arm, she heard someone calling out what sounded like her name but wasn't really her name.

She whipped her head around to see a woman hurrying close to her with a scandalized look on her face.

"Sonny bitiya, what is this? Out in the morning and that with boy touching your skin. Che, che. What will father say? Cover the head and come home. I sent you to get water and now you gallivanting around with Chad." The woman said all at once, taking Sonny by the hand and trying to pull her away from Chad. Sonny blinked at her in confusion. She could understand what this woman was saying even though her English was riddled with errors and she seemed to pronounce her and Chad's name in a weird way. She pronounced Sonny as Sony and she pronounced Chad was Chaid.

"But who are you?" Sonny asked, moving closer to Chad with Chad holding on to her arm even tighter than before. He was staring at this woman with a mixture of apprehension and worry. Had they stumbled across a mental asylum masquerading as a picturesque village to lure in unsuspecting people and then have their evil and mad-villain like ways with them?

"Hai Ram, I'm your mother bitiya." The woman said slapping her forehead in worry. "And Chad beta, your mother is looking for you. You were supposed to take out the cows' na? And now I see you are playing fool with my bitiya. So much like Kanhaiya." She said to Chad tut tut-ing disapprovingly. Chad stared back at her in askance. He was no cow herd. For god sakes he was Chad Dylan Cooper of Mackenzie Falls.

"My mother? But I have a mother." Sonny said frowning.

"Who else is your mother? I gave birth to you. I looked after you, fed you and taught you to be good housewife. Ram Ram, this daughter of mine is ungrateful. How am I to get her married and how will she find good husband. God help me." The woman said slapping her head some more and look very annoyed and put out by Sonny.

"I think we had better listen to her. Your house must be next to mine. Follow me and when you see a woman dressed like her calling you follow her. We'll try to meet up later and formulate a plan of action and get the heck out Crazyville." Sonny said whispering into Chad's ear before reaching out the woman.

Chad nodded. He had no other choice and he didn't want to be killed. America depended on him for their daily dose of drama.

"Sorry Mom," Sonny said touching her not-mother on the arm.

"Mom? What is this nonsense? Call me Ma. Don't acts like those firangs." Sonny's not-mom said to her reprovingly and Sonny nodded.

"Sorry…er…Ma." Sonny said, the word sounding foreign to her. And who the heck were firangs?

"Sonny bitiya, cover the head." Her not-mom said sternly and pulled the loose end of Sonny's sari over her head. Sonny winced, now she was sure Chad was getting a full view of her back. But somehow, her not-mother seemed to think that covering the head was more important that covering her other parts of the body. Her not-mom grabbed her hand and began walking determinedly. Sonny followed her, her mind working furiously.

Where could they be?

//

Chad grinned, he could see Sonny's back. It looked very smooth and pale and it was almost tempted to reach out and touch it. He could document the experience later in his Sonny centric journal. And what a heavenly experience it would be. However he drew his hand back at the last moment. Sonny's not-mom had chided them just for standing close to each other and holding arms, he was sure if he tried to touch Sonny's back, Sonny would react and then Sonny's not-mom would break every bone in his body.

Sighing he followed them as they began walking.

So close and yet so far.

Life sometimes was colossally unfair.

//

"Don't tell father, I found you with Chad. He will take pistol and shoot him." Sonny's not-mother said before shoving her inside the house.

"Take off the slippers and fold your hands in Namaste," Sonny's not-mother hissed pushing her front of an impressively mustachioed man. Seriously, the person had a great big mustache, complete with curling tips and all.

"Good morning …er…Pa…" Sonny said, her hands folded in greeting.

"Good morning bitiya," her not-father said gruffly, eyes going over and approving of her covered appearance before going back to his morning paper. Sonny rolled her eyes in her head. Fathers were the same everywhere. They only approved of their daughter's clothing when she was fully covered.

"Come Sonny, let's go into the kitchen and make breakfast." Sonny paled at this as her not-mother shepherded her into the kitchen. But she only knew how to make American breakfasts!She broke into a nervous sweat. What would her not-mother do if she found out her daughter was not really her daughter? Dreadful thoughts filled Sonny's mind.

Oh boy, did she ever so need a friendly face now. Even Chad's handsome mug would do.

She was desperate.

"I kneaded the dough, you roll out the chapattis and I'll cook them." Her not-mother said sitting down in front of a stove. Sonny sat down next to her with her legs crossed, Indian style, with a wooden slab in front of her and a rolling pin.

Okay she got it. She was supposed to take the dough and roll it out. It would just be like making crepes.

She took a small ball of dough, dipped it in some flour and then placed it on the slab and began rolling it out. Thank goodness her mother had been insistent on her learning to cook with her and that too any different kinds of cuisine.

She expertly rolled out the ball of dough and handed the flattened piece of dough to her not-mother who nodded at it approvingly.

"Nice work, Sonny bitiya. You are learning well."

The dough was tossed onto some sort of a pan and Sonny watched as her not-mother poured oil around and watched it puff up before her not-mother swiftly poked it and flipped it to the other side.

Sonny was fascinated.

"Mad girl. Work faster. You've seen this all before." Sonny's not-mother said fondly, pinching her cheek before returning to her job of grating coconuts. Sonny smiled into her sari. Her not-mother was nice, just like her real-mom who she missed terribly sometimes.

She wondered how Chad was doing.

//

"Chad beta, I asked you to take the cows out and instead I find you not in the field but somewhere else? What is this childishness, hein?" a colorfully dressed woman said brandishing her rolling pin at him. Chad inched backwards. Was this woman going to go crazy on him? Thankfully, he could shout out the Sonny, she was only next door.

"I wanted to see the sunrise," he said glibly making up an excuse.

"Beta, you are going to get married soon. No time for fooling. You have to make living. Otherwise, who will feed wife and you and my grandchildren?" Chad's not-mother said waggling her finger at him.

"Sorry?" Chad ventured. And no way was he getting married. Unless it was to Sonny, maybe than he would consider it.

Chad's not-mother's face softened. "You are young and want to have fun. I understand. But beta, we have no time for fun or youth. There's too much work to be done." She said sighing tiredly. Chad suddenly felt bad. On impulse he moved forward and hugged her. It was such a Sonny thing to do but he could not help it. His not-mom looked tired and exhausted, even in the morning and she looked like she needed some cheering up. And as her fake-son, he was obligated to do that.

His not-mother returned the hug with surprise but when they broke apart she was smiling widely and Chad smiled back, happy that she was smiling. It gave him a warm fuzzy feeling to see her like that.

"Silly boy. Come have breakfast. I have made makki di roti and sarson da saag." She said taking his hand and pulling him inside the house which he noticed was huge and old, just like Sonny's house.

Chad blanched at the mention of food. He only hoped that it was palatable. And he hoped that for all their niceness, they were not cannibals.

//

Chad wiped away beads of sweat from his forehead as he stood up and surveyed the field before him. Hoeing a field was tiring work. Normally he would have protested at any kind of work, because _hello_, he was _Chad Dylan Cooper_ but here discretion seemed like the better part of valor and he agreed when his not-father asked him to come to the field right after breakfast, which had been excellent by the way. He had no idea what makki di roti and sarson da saag were but they definitely were vegetarian and not made of human beings and they tasted heavenly.

His not-parents had been very happy when he agreed to work in the field. His not-mother in particular. Her eyes had been shining and Chad felt a twinge of sadness. When he did get out of Crazyville he would be leaving this awesome person behind.

Anyhow his not- father on bringing him to the field had shown him how to hoe it and while his not-father worked on once side, he worked on the other. Thanks goodness, his not-mother had made him change his clothes before he went. He was wearing a vest and a loose cloth around his waist, which was tucked in securely into his underwear. He had been worried about the loose cloth which he had learnt was called a dhoti-- he was afraid it was going to fall off and that it wouldn't be very comfortable to work in but actually, so far, it had been great.

At a distance, he spied Sonny who was now in a different sari and was wearing plenty of bangles which jingled as she walked.

"Chad' father and Chad, uh…Aunty wants you home for lunch," she called out standing at the edge of the field.

"Thank you, Sonny bitiya," Chad's not-father called out."You go Chad beta, I will finish this line and come. Tell to the mother."

Chad placed his hoe down and walked towards Sonny. Working in the sun, he was sure he was going to get a terrific tan with some not so attractive tan lines. Oh well, there was nothing he could do about this. At least he could get some well developed muscles though with the way he was working.

Sonny gulped nervously as she noticed Chad approaching. She had always seen him fully covered but seeing him almost naked was a different thing. She had thought of him half naked but she hadn't seen him half-naked. Chad had a wiry musculature that she found quite attractive. She blushed. She could not think of Chad like this, especially when she was supposed to be hating him.

There was no telling him that though. He didn't need any more of a boost to his big ego.

"So how are things at your place?" Chad asked as he flexed his fingers which were beginning to ache a bit. Damn it, he was going to have to dip them in some cold water to soothe them.

"Pretty okay. My not-parents are nice and they aren't mean to me." Sonny said shrugging, a gesture that looked weird when coupled with her covered self and bangles and all.

"Yours?" she asked peeking out from underneath the loose end of her sari.

"My not-parents are pretty nice. Especially my mom, she's pretty cool." Chad said giving Sonny the once over. "Why is your head covered?"

"My not-mom asked me to cover it. Apparently, it's scandalous for girls to walk around with out covering theirs heads. Why are you…half dressed?" Sonny asked giving Chad the same once over, which made him feel a little self-conscious. He was a little under-dressed here while compared to Sonny.

"These are my work clothes," He said shrugging.

Sonny's' eyes widened. Chad Dylan Cooper voluntarily doing work? Had a pod person taken his place? She pinched him -- not caring when he squealed-- and herself just to be sure. Yep, they were real and yes, Chad had been doing work.

A stranger thing she had never seen.

"Got to go Sonny. My not-mom said she's making rasgullas' and I'm quite excited to find out what they are." Chad breezily said before waving to Sonny and then disappearing into his house. Well he definitely seemed to be taking this displacement from Hollywood to god knows where quite well.

Hmmm, where were they, she asked herself. As the realization slowly hit her Sonny stood dumbstruck outside the house. The name rasgulla rang a bell. She had heard of it somewhere. Think, she told herself.

Ah…she had it, rasgullas' were a yummy Indian sweet.

Suddenly everything clicked and fell into place.

The chapattis, the saris', the Namaste, the food, the people, the language, the way her not-parents spoke using terms she didn't completely understand sometimes, the way people conservatively dressed. It was like that Bollywood movie she had seen, Sholay.

They were in rural India!

Crap. But how did they get here in the first place?

* * *

**Reference.**

Bitiya – Daughter. Term of endearment used for a girl.

Che – sound of disgust

Beta- term of endearment used for a boy.

Hai Ram – Oh God.

Kanhaiya – Name for Lord Krishna, a Hindu God who was a goat herd in his human life and was very popular with the girls. Basically flirting with the girls and all.

Ram Ram – God God.

Firangs – Foreigners.

Namaste – Indian way of greeting. Is done with putting both the hands together and in front of the chest.

Chappati – Flattened piece of dough, which is eatable when cooked. Just like a crepe or a tortilla.

Beta – Son. Term of endearment.

Makki di roti and sarson da saag – a type of chapatti and a vegetable dish made from mustard leaves.

Dhoti – cloth worn wrapped around the waist and legs.

Rasgulla – Indian sweet made of milk cream.

Sholay – Very famous Bollywood movie set in a village.

* * *

Wow, that reference note was long. A quick reminder, all the grammar errors are intentional because I'm translating how they speak from Hindi to English. And since I think in Hindi and then translate it into English, the translation is literal and the errors are very visible because of syntax differences.

Maybe you can review and make my day? :)


	4. Figuring It Out

**Figuring It Out.**

//

Sonny at once wanted to tell Chad where they were but Chad already gone inside in search of the Rasgulla. Sonny couldn't blame him. Rasgullas' were all kinds of wonderful. They were soft and sweet and chewy and just melted in your mouth.

She then tucked her sari securely around her head and walked to her house. She would find some way to go to Chad's house and tell him. What he would do with the knowledge she didn't know but it would be nice to put a name to the place they were staying in. Just knowing that they were in rural India didn't solve any problems. Maybe she could subtly ask her not-mother where they were right now and how far was the nearest city. And from there could figure out the next plan of action.

Feeling hopeful she walked inside her house and as soon as she entered the house her not-mother whisked her away into the kitchen telling that there was big fair coming up in the village in the weekend on account of Ganesh Chaturthi and that there were plenty of sweet meats and snacks to be made. Sonny blinked in confusion. What was Ganesh Chaturti? And why was she being taken to the kitchen, again. She survived in the morning because she knew about crepes but she didn't know about many other sweets other than Rasgullas' and Sandesh and if she asked her not-mother what they were, she knew she would be doomed for sure.

Why rural India of all places? Why couldn't they have been taken to some place back in the USA or even Europe? She and Chad were so out of their element here, though so far no one seemed to have noticed, which was a good thing.

But you could only play charades for so long and that is what scared Sonny.

She would have to have a talk with Chad and soon.

//

As soon as Chad entered the house, his nose led him straight to the kitchen, where he could smell the fragrant sweets. Chad sniffed appreciatively ands then checked himself. He had only met his not-family this morning and he already felt like one of them. And even more surprisingly, he felt very much at home here. His not-dad was a pretty chill dude, even if his sentence construction and grammar were way off. The point was his not-dad treated him like a son and that hadn't happened to him in a long time. He spoke affectionately to him, ruffled his hair, which Chad grudgingly admitted he enjoyed and he was constantly telling Chad how much of a wonderful son he was. The last part had made Chad's heart explode a little with happiness. And in an unexpected display of affection he had gone and hugged his not-dad, albeit awkwardly because they were both manly men and manly men didn't hug.

But after that Chad had been sporting a grin and Chad's father had been sporting an even bigger grin, though he was a little red in the face. They had then worked in silence, hoeing the field and occasionally sharing smiles.

Chad's not-mom was even better. She fussed over him constantly and that made him feel nice. It wasn't like back at Mackenzie Falls where sometimes the fussing was fake but here it was genuine and that's what made Chad even happier. She was constantly exhorting him to eat more despite him feeling stuffed and she'd keep making him these small treats. She was like the mothers he had read about in books. Always asking kids to eat more, even though they were fine and worrying that they were unhealthy and undernourished, even when they were most definitely not.

But Chad enjoyed all the attention. Growing up in Hollywood didn't leave a lot of time for childhood, or time with his parents. He loved his parents for sure, but they were kind of distant and vague figures in his life. He knew they loved him too but he didn't want to burden them by foisting his fame on them. Fame had ruined many a family's life and that's why his family played such a small part in his life. And also, Hollywood had a knack for making your grow up over night. He didn't mean it in a losing innocence kind of way, but he had become and adult too soon. And he was only sixteen.

So here he got to live the life he never really had a chance to live. A mom to fuss over him and a dad to teach him father-son stuff. Mind you it wasn't exactly the hoops and balls kind of stuff but it was still nice.

Extremely nice.

He was still lost in his thoughts when his not-mom came out bearing a plate of Rasgullas. She motioned at Chad to open his mouth and even though he was sixteen and not six, Chad did and he almost died to happiness inside. Rasgullas were the equivalent of heaven. Now if he could only kiss Sonny while she was wearing Rasgulla flavored lip-gloss, he would die a happy man.

"How is it, Chad beta?" his not-mom asked. He bobbed his head very fast and mumbled incoherently. She got the message and smiled before making her way back to the kitchen. By that time his not-dad came back and taking one look at the pure delight on Chad's face, he made his way instantly to the kitchen only to be tossed out by Chad's not-mom. His not-dad then dejectedly made his way to the bathroom. The threat was simple and potent. No cleans hands and legs, no rasgulla.

Chad then went up to his room to get rid of his sweaty clothes. He didn't really have a chance to look around before and he made use of the opportunity to do so now. His room was sparsely furnished yet it still had a homely feel to it. He had a decent sized bed and there was a bookshelf with books in a language he didn't understand and a chair and a cupboard which he supposed was for clothes. He walked to the bookshelf and looked at the books. Some of the books had colorful covers, like movie posters done in Technicolor and some of them had sober covers. Chad picked up the sober covered ones and stared at them. They were science books, that much he could recognize because of the drawings and all. But they were in a different language. His eyes bugged out of his head. He felt pity for the kids who studied this. Science was hard enough as it is in English. But learning it in a whole different language. Man, that would be tough. He was glad he didn't have to go to school in this place. He didn't need all of that nonsense, especially science, his favorite bugbear in a different language.

He moved to the window and looked and then promptly stumbled backwards in shock. His room was right opposite Sonny's room and from his window; he could take a good peek into Sonny's room. His head was at once flooded with plenty of images involving Sonny and acres of pale smooth skin. He got up and backed away from the room, trying to focus his gaze elsewhere and his gaze landed on a picture of what clearly was a deity. Okay he knew it was a deity because there was a halo around its head and from the deity's palm there was stream of shining light issuing forth. Chad colored. He wasn't a particularly religious person but somehow thinking certain thoughts and then thinking of some form of God felt so very wrong.

He at once went to his closet and began rifling through it. Damn, he only had loose flowing tunics and tight pants in here. Oh well, they would have to do because just have a swathe of cotton wrapped around his lower half didn't feel all that nice. He felt pretty exposed and the fear that it would fall of at any time was quite annoying. He stripped off his sweat soaked vest, and pulled of his lower cloth. He then quickly pulled his tunic over his head and then hopped around the room, trying to get his tight pants around. By the time he was done he was exhausted. Who knew clothing would cause such a problem.

He was going to turn to go when he noticed something pink outside his window. He went closer and peered into the afternoon sun. The pink was none other than Sonny and Chad smirked. So she had seen him getting dressed huh? Good thing he was wearing striped boxers.

"Hey Sonny, had your fill of my smokin bod'?" he called out cheerily.

"Psh. Like what nonsense. As if I'd ever want to see you. I don't even like seeing you fully clothed." Sonny snapped, looking quite put out by him.

"Please Sonny, I know you were peeking and enjoying it," Chad called out cheekily settling himself on the windowsill artistically. There, he was sure he made a pretty handsome picture to anyone watching from below.

"You wish Chad," Sonny called out before adding an artistic snort of disbelief to her denial. Chad smirked. Sonny could deny all she wanted but her cheeks which were pink and rosy even from all the way here spoke a different story.

Sonny Munroe had seen him and liked it.

Oh happy day.

//

Sonny had seriously not been expecting this. She had begged off cooking by citing a headache and taking one close look at Sonny her not-mom had marched her off upstairs to sleep. She said she would come upstairs later on with a hot glass of milk to soothe. Sonny had almost cried in happiness but this reminded her of something her mom would do. After hugging her not-mom who simply laughed and hugged her back, Sonny trudged her way upstairs.

Truth be told, she didn't actually have a headache. But constantly trying to figure out the logistics of how they got there and how they would escape was beginning to give her a headache. Plus there was also an element of guilt involved. Her not-parents were nice as were Chad's and if she and he escaped together, their parents would never hear the end of it. And she didn't want them to have to face that. Here in India, eloping was frowned upon very strictly. Arranged marriages were more of the norm here. Love marriages were looked upon with extreme caution and distaste. And eloping usually meant a love marriage.

She sighed as she flopped on her bed, which was surprisingly soft and downy. And it was also an ornate four poster with carvings on each post. Now there were more problems to sort out.

Sonny stared at the patterns asking them to help her before sighing again. Maybe sleep would make everything better. She got off the bed and struggled to get out of the sari. That was the problem with wearing six yards of fabric; you tended to get lost in it, especially if you were short like her.

She was in the process of extricating a long tunic from her cupboard when she noticed a movement outside her window. When she peered at it, she realized it was Chad and she immediately picked up the sari to cover herself. God, why hadn't she noticed the open window before. She had begun feeling mortified when she realized that Chad didn't know of her existence. He was trying to get dressed himself. And the moment, he took of all his clothes, she blushed. At least the guy had boxers on but oh my goodness, this wicked memory was going to haunt her till the end of her days. She only hoped Chad hadn't noticed. She quickly pulled on her clothes and cleared away her sari only to find Chad grinning at her obnoxiously.

And from the way he settled herself on the windowsill, grinning like that cat that ate the canary, she knew he knew. He called her out on it but she denied it. Admitting it was the equivalent of digging her own grave. And she was in no mood to do that, thank you very much.

And then she suddenly realized, now would be the perfect time to tell him because she may not find him at any other time since now Chad was working in the fields..

"Chad, I know where we are," she called out, feeling a little excited. Finally they could begin putting plans into motion.

Chad immediately perked up at the mention of that. Sonny could see from the way he sat up straighter and the speed with which his expression became serious.

"We're in rural India!"

"Where is that?" Chad called out blinking in confusion. He had never heard of a place called rural India. Sonny quickly racked her brains, trying to remember her geography lessons about the silk route and colonization.

"It's in-between China and Pakistan," she called out.

"Wha---" Chad began and Sonny didn't hear the end of it because Chad Dylan Cooper had fallen out his window in shock and landed in the fragrant jasmine bushes down below.

Well, in her defense, she never asked him to sit on the windowsill But maybe she should have asked him to stand on solid ground before he heard her. A string of curses were sounded out from below and Sonny sighed.

Now she would have to go extricate his sorry behind.

* * *

**Reference.**

Rasgullas and Sandesh are yummy Bengali sweets.

Ganesh Chaturthi – Festival celebrating an elephant headed god named Ganesha which is going to happen here in two days! ^_^

* * *

Sorry for the delay in updating. Real life can be quite insistent that you pay attention to it, so I did. Anyhow this chapter was slightly filler-esque but I kinda needed it in order to move forward. Not the best chapter but hopefully it's not all bad. Next chapter, some epic Chad freak out. :)

And please if you have any questions about the fic or India, I'd happy to answer. :)


	5. A Heart's Lament

**A Heart's Lament.**

//

**Song - Emosanal Attyachar - Brass Band Version (Dev D). I would recommend listening to the song while reading other wise it wont make any sense. The link's on my profile.**

//

Sonny hurried down the stairs of her house and hopped over the fence separating her and Chad's not-houses. She hoped her mother had not seen her but she really couldn't be bothered to go around and get in through the gate. The small fear that Chad might have been hurt propelled her to jump; sari and all but Sonny did not feel like acknowledging that. Things were complicated enough as it is and she did not want to deal with the realization that Chad mattered to her, not just yet.

"Chad?" she called out, peering through the densely growing jasmine bushes.

"What the fuck did you mean by we're in India?" Chad yelled while suddenly bursting through the bushes. Sonny yelped in fear and jumped backwards. And then she took a good look at Chad. There were twigs and leaves stuck in his hair and also some flowers also adorned them too. He looked comical and very angry, which only served to make him look all the more funnier.

Sonny couldn't help it and she began laughing. Chad Dylan Cooper looked hilarious and not suave and collected like he did all the time. She only wished she had her phone here. She would take a photo and send it to Tawni who would then do the needful and made sure everyone got a look at it.

"Sonny, this is not funny. We are in India, which I am not sure is where, we don't know how to get back—and seriously, stop laughing! What's so funny?" Chad screeched, convinced Sonny had well and truly gone mad.

"It's you," Sonny said between spurts of hysterical laughter.

"What about me?"Chad yelled waving his arms around in frustration. This only made Sonny laughter.

"Arghhhhh!" Chad yelled before extricating himself from the bushes. After waving his arms at Sonny and being unable to articulate his frustration, Chad stalked off. Sonny could talk to him when she decided to recover from her hysterics, until then, he did NOT want to see her. Seriously, no one laughed at Chad Dylan Cooper.

Sonny called feebly after Chad but the giggles kept coming and she couldn't do anything but give into them. And while Chad kept steaming, Sonny laughed for the next full ten minutes. He walked into the house, glared at his not-parents, who looked at him in astonishment, all the while muttering about the inadvisability of having crushes on girls who laughed at him all the time and made fun of him.

He was not going to talk to Sonny Munroe until she apologized and made nice and he didn't care how childish that sounded.

Oh no, he wasn't going to talk at all.

That would teach her to laugh at him.

Hmph.

//

When Sonny later on recovered from her extended bout of laughter, the first thing she went and did was beg her not-mother for some sweets. Luckily, her not-mom happened to have some spare Rasgullas but it took Sonny some amount of wheedling to get them from her. In return for her Rasgullas, which were apparently meant for the Ganesh Puja, she'd have to visit the temple with her not-mom every morning, think about marriage at eighteen, and begin looking at a few prospective boys—Sonny wanted to protest strongly at this, she was only seventeen for goodness sakes. But she thought the better of it because she realized she wasn't going to be here very long. At least she didn't want to be here very long.

She did protest about the marriage thing though. Eighteen and marriage was simply ridiculous. And thankfully her mother agreed, though with plenty of eye-rolling. After crossing that hurdle, Sonny immediately went next door and sweetly greeted Chad's not-mom and told her she wanted to see him because she had a surprise for him. Chad's mom was of course sweet enough to let her go and see him but not without stuffing her face with some laddoos. Sonny did like this aspect of India though, people here were very big on eating, and even neighbors' fed you as if you were a starving kid and your parents hadn't fed you for days.

After chewing down on an extremely awesome laddoo—and Sonny vowed that when she got back home, she would learn to make this little balls of sugar delight at home even if it killed her—Sonny went up the stairs and tentatively knocked on Chad's door.

"Go away," Chad's voice called out, sounding annoyed and even a little bit sad. Immediately Sonny felt a little stab of guilt. The poor guy was obviously sad because of the way she had cruelly continued laughing even when he asked her to stop. In her defense, she didn't often get to see Chad with his perfect hair out of place and looking as if he had rolled around in the mud. But even she had to admit, her defense was pretty mean and thoughtless. Sonny sighed heavily; she hated having to apologize, especially with the knowledge that she had to apologize to Chad. She didn't mind apologizing to people, really she didn't. And she definitely didn't like hurting them. But sometimes, Chad made her so mad and so angry at him that it was hard to forget that he was a human being too, especially one with feelings. She was so used to thinking of him as Chad Dylan Cooper, extremely handsome but arrogant twit that it sometimes completely escaped her notice that he was human and emotional.

She pushed open the door and went in anyway.

"You," Chad said with something of wounded anger in his voice. Sonny sighed once more. This was not going to be easy and it would be like eating humble pie—which just so you know was bland and tasteless and no fruit-filling at all, which was really horrible in a pie and you get the idea right?

Basically this was not going to be a moment she would ever like to recall. On the other hand, she knew that Chad would have no problem bringing it up again and again just to torment her.

Oh the indignities she suffered for being a good person.

Damn her. Just this once though. Other times she liked herself a lot, thank you very much.

"Just hear me out," she said extricating a bag of Rasgullas from under her sari and giving them to him. Chad accepted them and stared at her with a blank face. The slimy slug, he was going to make her work for this! 'You are a nice person' she repeated to herself in her head like a never ending mantra in order to stop herself from clobbering him senseless.

"_I'msorry_," she said in a quick mumble.

Chad immediately perked up. "What's that I hear Munroe?" he said, cupping his ear and thrusting his head out in her direction as if he couldn't hear her.

"I'm sorry for laughing," Sonny said, a little louder this time and with a lot of teeth gnashing. But apparently Chad still wasn't satisfied.

"I can't hear you Munroe, speak up," he said, smirking at her now and crossing her arms across his chest. He looked like he was trying to suppress a bout of giggles very hard on account of the fact that giggled would not be very nice, considering that he was a dude and all.

Sonny took a deep breath and composed herself before giving it one last try. If this didn't work, then Chad Dylan Cooper could hang some place where she wouldn't have to ever see him again. Okay that was a little bit harsh considering the fact that she did want to see him again. She did like the idiot but sometimes, oh, sometimes he made her _so so so_ mad, that she couldn't even express it.

"Fine. I am sorry that I hurt your feelings Chad, I didn't mean too. It was unintentional."

"And that's all I really wanted to hear Sonny. See the thing is I'm such an awesome actor that people tend to forget I am human—which I am and that just goes to show how much of an awesome actor I am, seriously, I am aren't I— but the thing is I have feelings too and sometimes they do get hurt." Chad said smiling genuinely at her. A bright big beaming, thousand-watt smile which momentarily blinded Sonny with its brilliance.

"Now why don't you share these Rasgullas with me while we sit and make fun of Pico and Broody? Shall we?" Chad said gesturing to a spot on the floor where you could rest you back against the wall.

Sonny smiled and walked forward. Only Chad Dylan Cooper could apologize, praise himself, be nice and still make fun of others in one breath.

Only Chad Dylan Cooper. And strangely enough, that's the only way she wanted him to be.

//

The day of the festival dawned bright and gay and Sonny along with her not-father found herself being unceremoniously chucked out of the house which now housed a large congregation of gossiping woman dressed colorful clothes who were chattering away loudly and at the same time, cooking a great number of things.

All around the village, streamers and decorations had been hung up and at the far corner of the tiny village, in a small enclosure; a fair was beginning to take roots. Big tents were being arranged, vendors were arriving and setting up their wares and there was even a travelling circus which was setting up camp.

Excitement was in the air and Sonny found herself spending the day with Chad because her not-father and Chad's not-father had ditched them because it was one of the rare off days that they had and they wanted to spend it gossiping under the cool shade of a tree while they puffed on a beedi or two.

So that left Chad and her wandering around. It was a little awkward between them because suddenly Sonny was aware of a new tension infusing the air. Even Chad seemed to notice it and both of them kept a slight distance between them. But sometimes there were accidental brushes of skin and arms and Sonny couldn't help but shiver.

And then it hit her. They were walking around, a boy and a girl and the looks that people gave them were amused and teasing. People clearly thought that they were together. That's why the looks. It was indulgent young love and all.

But that did not bother her. What bothered her was the fact that she was not worrying that people thought they were a couple. No instead she was completely fine with that and that was worrying her. The fact that she was fine with people thinking she and Chad were a couple.

She couldn't like Chad Dylan Cooper in _that_ way, could she?

She dismissed the thought as quickly as it came.

But that still didn't stop the tingles and shivers from coming and for the first time in her life, Sonny felt a sense of uneasy happiness.

She was not comfortable with the changes that were happening but she liked them.

God, that did not even make sense.

But then again, ever since she and India had landed in the middle of Elsewhere, nothing had been making sense at all.

//

It was night fall and that found Chad squirming as his mother tried to fix his hair. He was seventeen and not a kid for god sakes. He loved his mother plenty, but really, messing with his do, that was going a bit too far. He vehemently protested but when his mom pouted—yes pouted, he gave into her comb, grumbling all the while.

Later on he took a look in the mirror and stifled a scream of horror. He looked like a freaking nerd, with his hair slicked back with a side partition. However he didn't have the heart to mess it up in front of his mother who was beaming at him like the smiling sun so he just smiled painfully and as soon as he went outside, he messed it up in favour of his natural messy do—the one which the ladies always fell for. Except for Sonny Munroe. For some reason, she didn't want to fall for his blond locks. Oh well, one day he was sure she would fall.

He found Sonny outside, waiting for him all dressed up. It was then that he took a double take. Sonny was wearing a skirt, a blouse and a gauzy stole like thing which covered her midriff and the front of her chest, just like the sari did, but this time he could sort of see through the fabric. It was sparkly and a pale sky blue and it Sonny looked absolutely beautiful. And when he saw Sonny looking over him—he'd call it checking out but since Sonny wouldn't agree to that, he'd just keep that bit of info to him—he grinned.

They did make an awesome looking couple.

They spent a few minutes staring at each other before Sonny snapped first.

"Let's go," she said, her voice sounding tense and strung out. Chad followed her grinning. She must have just realized he looked exceptionally handsome in his sherwani and pajamas. He was wearing a maroon sherwani which was embellished with silver designs and he was cream coloured pajamas.

Tonight was going to be awesome.

//

And indeed tonight was turning out to be pretty awesome. Sonny's initial frostiness disappeared and soon she had Chad were behaving like normal. They checked out the sights, experimented with some Indian junk food, particularly Chaat which Chad found to one of the best things he had ever eaten, ate tons of cotton candy, drank lime juice and sucked on golas—popsicles that were dipped in sweet and sour syrup and which were also wonderful. Seriously, tangy popsicles, that was a wonderful invention if there ever was one.

They had just finished checking out a dance exhibits by this extremely pretty woman whom they later found out was a man much to their surprise, when Sonny noticed something that reminded her of home.

"Look Chad, there are guys dressed as Elvis!" she said excitedly tugging on his sleeve. Chad whipped his head around so fast that he almost got whiplash.

"Where?" he asked looking around, feeling just as excited as Sonny. He had never expected Elvis impersonators in a Indian village of all places but he sure was glad to see them. At least they would feel familiar and like home. His eyes finally settled on two guys who were dressed in white jumpsuits, studded with rhinestones and of course with Elvis's famous ducktail hairstyle wigs sitting atop their heads. He didn't want to be girly but he swore his heart jumped with joy and skipped like a little girl at the sight of them—memories of home.

"Come on let's go watch them, they look like they are about to perform," Sonny said tugging on his arm. And for once he didn't mind. They found a nice spot, on top of a hay bale where Sonny first clambered up and then helped up. It was a little difficult because he had never climbed on top of a hay bale before but there was a first time for everything right?

Once they were both seated comfortably, both of them focused their attention on the Elvis impersonators who were adjusting their audio equipment.

The announcer came on. "Gents and gentlewomen's, we presents you the Presley's' of Patna. Please to be giving them a warmest welcome." The crowd broke out on in cheers and Chad and Sonny clapped enthusiastically. They couldn't wait to hear what these guys would play.

"Namaskar peoples, today we will play special composition. Perfect for young boys in love whose lady love is not loving hims back. It is called the Emosanal Attyachar (Torture). Please to be enjoying and hoping you will likes it." One of the Elvis guys said as he stood in front of the microphone. Chad gasped in surprise. This song seemed like it was written for him. He had a lady love who he was sure did not like him back sometimes. He waited with bated breath fro the guys to sing.

//

Yeh Dil Pighla Ke Saaz Bana Loon  
**Let me melt my heart and make it into an instrument**  
Dhadkan Ko Awaz Bana Loon  
**and make my heartbeat my voice**  
Smoking Smoking Nikle Re Dhooan  
**and pain comes out like cigarette smoke.  
**Seene Mein Jalti Hai Armanon Ki Arthi  
**My desires burn in a conflagration in my heart**  
Arrey What To Tell You Darling Kya Hua  
**what can I tell you darling, what happened?**

//

Chad was pretty sure he felt like that all of the time back home. There were days when he'd see Sonny with other guys and it would make him so mad. It was like his heart was singing but all that was coming was pain because Sonny was going out with some other guy. Most of the times he'd pretend he didn't care but there were only so many times you could do that. It was like these badly dressed Elvis like dudes were singing about his heart's lament.

But the worst part of all of this was that he couldn't tell anyone what he was feeling, least of all Sonny. It did suck terribly sometimes that he had all of this angst inside of him and he had no outlet for it. Instead when people asked him why he looked like he was sucking on a sour lemon, he had to tell them if was for a scene.

In a way it was good Mackenzie falls was so angst filled. When he was angsting, nobody would know. But sometimes, yeah he did need someday to know, especially Sonny.

Some secrets did weigh heavily on the heart.

//

Arrey Sapne Dekhe Jannat Ke  
**I had dreams of heaven**  
Par Mitti Mein Mil Jaen  
**but they were ground into the dust.**  
Phooken Re Ghar Baar Ki Duniya  
**I wash my hands from this world**  
Ko Bole Good Bye  
**and say good bye.**  
Chad Jae Haye Allah  
**Oh God help whoever is smitten**  
Jisko Bhi Yeh Bukhaar....  
**by this fever.**

//

Chad couldn't help but draw in an incredulous breath. He didn't dwell on the fact that he could perfectly understand the lyrics despite the fact that they were a strange mishmash of Hindi and English. What surprised him was that how much he seemed to be connecting with this song. It seemed like it had been written with him in mind. He did have dreams which involved him and Sonny and happy ending but more often than not, they bit the dust.

And just when he decided eh would have more of this pining nonsense—that he would be the hard-boiled hero of the movies, this Sonny fever would affect him again and he wonder how would he ever be cured of something that had no cure. Because you see, Sonny didn't seem to like him the way he did. Instead she seemed to erm, passionately hate him as much as he liked her.

It was quite the dilemma.

//

Tauba Tera Jalwa,Tauba Tera Pyar  
**Oh my your grace, oh my your love**  
Tera Emosanal Attyachaar!  
**oh your emotional torture**  
Tauba Tera Jalwa, Tauba Tera Pyar  
Tera Emosanal Attyachaar!  
Jao Jao Oh Dilbar,Oh Dilbar Ohh!  
**Go away my love**  
Tauba Tera Jalwa,Tauba Tera Pyar  
Tera Emosanal Attyachaar!  
**Your emotional torture!**

//

Damn straight it was. All this love nonsense was like emotional torture and he was definitely getting the short end of the stick here. Life simply just wasn't fair. Oh well, he supposed that was the downside to be being blessed with truckloads of talent and fabulous, heart stopping good looks.

It was always the pretty people who suffered. And he was pretty sure Tawni would agree with that.

He sighed heavily, thinking of Tawni. Once he went back, there would be none of this closeness that he had been experiencing with Sonny. They would go back to they way things were. He would Chad Dylan Cooper of Mackenzie Falls – mega TV star of the highest rated tween show ever and she would go back to being Sonny Munroe—the love of his life, cast member of the idiotic Chuckle City show they called So Random!

This was so heavy and tragic and just blah.

It would be like emotional torture all over again and he would not like it one bit.

The Elvis guys finished their song to thunderous applause and Sonny too clapped eagerly as she turned around and gave him an infectious grin. The next number started and Sonny started swaying in beat to that. Chad smiled. He didn't know when they would be going back and when things would become like the West Side story all over again. And what did that tell him?

That told him that he simply would have to enjoy the time he was going to spend in Sonny's close company for however long this whole being away from home thing lasted.

And for once, he was so ready to do without a script and just go with the flow.

Maybe then someday, a someone called Sonny Munroe just might relieve him of his emotional torture.

That would be very nice.

* * *

**Reference**

Ladoo – Indian sweet which is shaped like a round ball and made of maida and sugar or coconut and sugar. It's yummy. :D

Chaat – Indian kind of junk food. Typical street food.

Golas- Indian version of the Popsicle. Crushed ice on a stick dipped in sweet sour and sticky syrup.

Beedi – Indian version of cigarette. It's pretty cheap and many people smoke this, as an alternative to cigarettes. Especially in the villages.

Sherwani – Long dress like coat worn for functions and festivals.

Blouse and skirt and duppata (stole) – Sonny's dress is called a gaghra choli and worn during functions and festivals.

* * *

A/N - Sorry this took so long. I was a little busy with music review exams and it took me quite a while to find a perfect first song for them and translate it. So I hope this chapter makes up for my abysmally long time between updates. The link to the song is on my profile page. DO check it out, it will help you understand. Also what Sonny's and Chad's dresses look like will be posted. The wont be dresses they wear in this chapter but it's just to give you and idea of how they look.

Please excuse me for any mistakes. I haven't got this beta-ed and I'm too tired to proofread properly. Will do it when I have a little free time. So terribly sorry, hope it isn't all too bad.

And finally, I don't own SWAC or the song Emosanal Attyachar - Dev D. I don't Elvis either.


	6. The Wall With A Beating Heart

**The Wall With A Beating Heart.**

//

"So…" Chad said vaguely, looking a bit out of it and Sonny didn't know how to respond. How did one respond to a Chad Dylan Cooper who seemed miles far away and who's opening conversation gambit consisted of one syllable and one syllable alone.

Granted they hadn't spoken for awhile because of the amount of time she seemed to be spending in the kitchen learning stuff and the amount of time he spent in the field learning how to farm was a lot, therefore making free time some what of a rarity. But before even not speaking for long periods of time had never ensured that there would be a very awkward and tension filled air of silence hanging thickly between them. It was just not done. They verbally sparred—the insulting kind, and not the mind stimulating kind that you imagined, they fawned over each other and then pretended they didn't and once in a while, they even spoke like friends, civilized ones, but there had never been silence between them.

Never.

However all of today, they had spent three hours in each other's other company and in the course of three hours, they had both exchanged a dozen or so changes.

This was most definitely weird, Sonny reflected thoughtfully. She missed the banter between them. She rather enjoyed sparring—ahem, verbally of course with Chad but this silence was a whole new ball game. It gave rise to a few ideas and revelations, all of which she wasn't really comfortable with. For instance she had noticed that Chad had a very nice side profile. And it wasn't even like he _wanted_ her to notice it. She noticed it of her own violation when Chad had been staring pensively into the distance as they sat in her house garden under a big old banyan tree.

And for the first time since she had known Chad, she had seen him look truly peaceful she realized. He was working hard and in not in a way that he was normally used too, but he seemed content and at peace with himself. He also seemed a little wistful and that had gotten Sonny worried. It had then struck her that Chad seemed really at home here, here in rural India despite being in the same situation as a square peg in a round hole. That wasn't supposed to happen. Chad wasn't supposed to be fit in here like he belonged. Then he would never be able go back to Hollywood and live happily again. That made Sonny's heartache a little. Chad would dreadfully miss this place when they went back—and they had to go back, there was no question about it because they had lives waiting for him and it would kill her to see him deal with the pain of leaving this place behind.

Especially his not-parents who he seemed really attached to.

She realized with a start that seeing Chad in pain would also affect her horribly. She didn't want TO see him in pain. In fact she wanted to protect him form everything out there. Because for all his self-sufficiency, Chad was still vulnerable and alone and more than anything Chad needed someone who could give him a hug and say it would be all right, who could be a source of strength.

With an even bigger start Sonny realized that in the vague future, she envisioned herself in that role. It came as a big shock to her and at once Sonny got up, all flustered. This wasn't the way things were supposed to work! She was supposed to hate Chad and not want to hold him in her arms and stroke his pretty golden hair.

No! This was a disaster in the making. It was written all over it in big bold airs.

A hand touched hers and Sonny jumped and cursed loudly.

"Language, Sonny Munore,"Chad said mockingly. He too stood up. "What happened?" he asked more gently this time. Sonny only shook her head in a confused manner. Oh dear, she never did expect things to turn out that way. She instead turned and ran towards the gate, eager to get away from Chad and deal with her own overwhelming feelings which she decided sourly had picked the most inappropriate time to show themselves. She was about to run in the direction of the fields, which had sort of become her go to place because there were very friendly cows there who listened to all her problems when she talked about them but instead she walked right into a solid wall and behind her, Chad ran into her, essentially squishing her between Chad and some wall.

Wait, the wall had a heartbeat! Sonny jumped back in terror and into Chad's arms. And from the comfort of Chad's arm, Sonny peeked at the wall with a heartbeat.

It was a young man with the most impressive set of mustachios she had ever seen.

//

Chad frowned. What was with Sonny today, why wouldn't she tell him and why was she running away? He was so intent on following her that he didn't notice a giant obstruction plant it self in their way and as a result he ran into Sonny who then jumped back into his arms with a squeak of terror.

Okay, Sonny may have been behaving a little weirdly today but Chad definitely had no complaints about this damsel in distress behavior on her part. He was completely willing to be the knight in shining armor if needed. After all it was not everyday that one's love of the life jumped into ones' arms.

However only after he got out of his Sonny induced daze—sweet mother of god, she smelled soft and awesome, did Chad finally take note of the obstruction. The obstruction seemed like a young man who was pumped on steroids, wearing a dhoti and a kurta and who had the most evil set of mustaches that he had ever seen. Chad clicked his tongue in distaste. Really, over the top villainy moustaches were so passé. He also self-consciously thought about his own mustache, which though at first had annoyed him, he now couldn't live without. His mustache was small and slim, when compared to the idiot's mustache. It's like their mustaches were reflections of their bodies. Chad was slim and slight and very fair, while the brute was tall and hulking, and very evenly tanned. Chad eyed him with wary distaste. He didn't like this fellow but he wasn't sure if he could take him on in a fight. But if it ever came down to protecting Sonny's honour or something, Chad would fight to kill. That he was sure of. But he still wished this numbskull hadn't showed up. Everything had been so idyllic and peaceful so far.

But of course, this was a village and even if it did have awesome people like his parents and Sonny of course, there was bound to be some riff-raff.

The guy fairly leered at Sonny and Chad instinctively tightened his grip on Sonny, his hackles rising at this blatant attempt at vulgar lechery.

How dare this country bumpkin leer at the love of his life?

//

Meanwhile Sonny glared at the guy, thankful for the comfort of Chad's arms, as he leered at her. It left a most unpleasant taste in her mouth, the way he was looking at her. Like she was a slab of meat hanging in the butcher's shop being watched by a hungry dog. Only the drool was missing and Sonny decided that even yappy little annoying dogs would be better than this brute.

"You very beautiful girl are," the young man said, twirling his moustaches. Sonny shuddered and Chad slowly inched away with her in his arms.

"I am going to the mother to be speaking and by next week we'll be married getting," he said with an evil grin as he flicked her cheek and then walked towards off towards her house. Sonny and Chad turned around and stared at him, apparently speechless in their confusion. The man's English was odd and it took a while for them to comprehend, since he spoke it with a terrible accent. And then it struck them.

Wait, _what?_ Him get married to her?

Sonny and Chad stared at each other, their faces both wearing looks of shocked horror.

Now on top of trying to get back home, they even had to prevent a wedding?

What the **fuck** was happening?

* * *

Sorry for the delay in updating. Short chapter to introduce my villain. Mwuhahaha.. ;-] All horrible mistakes my own since this chapter was un-betaed and written in a tearing hurry.


	7. It's A Mad Mad World

**It's a Mad Mad World.**

//

"Do something!" Sonny cried out at Chad as they both stared at the retreating back of the villainous hulk.

"Me? What do you want me to do? He'll turn me into pulp the minute I tear into him and much as I like protecting your honour and stuff, I don't like getting flattened while doing it." Chad snapped as spun to the right to face Sonny.

"He's _going to marry me_ Chad. AND I DO NOT WANT TO GET MARRIED TO HIM. I'm FREAKING SEVENTEEN for goodness sakes!" Sonny snapped equally annoyed. Chad groaned out aloud in annoyance. Did she really think he wanted her to get married to that over the top slimy villain?

"Short of marrying you myself, there's nothing I can do Munroe." Chad snapped back tersely. At once Sonny's eyes gleamed with the ghost of a new idea and Chad mentally whacked himself and for added effect, harshly whacked his own head. Sonny Munroe needed no encouraging as far as crazy schemes were concerned and yet like an idiot, he had gone right ahead and voiced out his crazy thought.

"Don't even say it," he began in a warning tone but Sonny waved him away airily.

"It wont even be real Chad. It's only to throw this guy off and then after words we'll tell our parents, I mean our not parents that we're breaking up." Sonny said patiently and smiling sweetly.

"No way." Chad said mutinously. Look, he loved Sonny Monroe and all but this marriage thing was a bit preposterous! He was only eighteen and not ready for such commitment. Sure one day in the distant future he'd like to marry her—he had the whole wedding planned out and all—but not now. Besides, Chad was deeply distrustful of fake weddings and engagements. Mackenzie Falls had thought him that all of this always ended badly. He knew for a fact. It's why he never went out of script.

"Please…" Sonny wheedled, shaping her lips into a pout and Chad tried to focus on the cows in the field beyond but then Sonny turned his face towards her and Chad could feel himself crumbling.

"This is doomed. We are doomed." Chad stated morosely to no one in particular as he trailed behind Sonny who was happily skipping ahead hoping to intercept the hulk on steroids.

//

It was an awkward gathering. Sonny's parents were gazing at Mustachios with confused disbelief while Chad's parents were sitting there wringing their hands and Sonny was cursing loudly as Mustachios laid out what he had he mind. And Chad, Chad was boiling on the inside and feeling pathetic alternately. He didn't like being thrown into things on the random, in the spur of the moment. There was a reason he didn't do anything without a script you know!

" Myself be Bikram Bish. I is wanting to be marrying yuver's daughter. Please to be deciding marriage date and telling me. On the day, I will be the appearing. And not to be worrying about marriages costs, myself's family to be paying. Okay? Okay. Done then. See you later in-law parents." The hulk said cheerfully not noting the shock on everyone's faces. He was just about to get up when Sonny stopped him.

"You can't marry our daughter just like that! We don't even know you." Sonny's father said sputtering, outraged at the impudence of the young man. Sonny smirked. She didn't even have to say anything. Chad perked up. When the parents themselves weren't so receptive, he needn't have to be involved in a fake marriage or anything. That was a relief for sure.

"Silly man. Who said you need to know me? I am going to marry the girl no? Not to be marrying you." The hulk—or rather Bikram Bish said amiably. Chad swore. This was ridiculous. You couldn't just walk into people's houses and say that you were marrying their daughters or whatever. That was tantamount to saying that So Random and Mackenzie Falls were the same. _Hell no_, they weren't.

"Look here buster. You can't marry Sonny okay?" Chad said standing up irritably.

"But why, phirangee?" Bikram Bish said turning to Chad and leveling a serious and strange gaze at him. Chad bristled a bit but nevertheless he answered back.

"Because _I_ am going to marry her!"

//

Okay. He hadn't meant to say that. It immediately threw everyone into a tizzy except Sonny who was now smirking at him. Chad turned to a wall and banged his head against it.

Him and his stupid mouth.

Really, someone needed to sew his mouth up and do it like now.

//

"You can't marry her!" Bikram Bish spat out, the vein in his head angrily pulsing and jumping up to meet Chad. He towered over Chad and even though Chad felt everything in his tummy come upstream, he pushed it back down and stood his ground.

"He can marry her. We prefer him to you, you rascal!" Sonny's father shouted, his mustaches quivering and his face an angry purple.

"I will take this to panchayat. I made offer first and I get to marry her." Bikram Bish all but screeched.

"I don't want to marry you, you Gorilla," Sonny too screeched. What did he thinks she was? A doll which he could buy? Well she would rid him of that notion soon enough. She flexed her hands and was going to move forward and aim somewhere painful but Chad held her back with a glare. If there was to be any throwing of punches, if would only be between him and Bish. Not between Sonny and Bish. Not to mention how scandalized her parents would be by her hitting people.

Chad parents meanwhile were looking all the more bemused. All this was clearly going over their heads. Sonny's mother was alternately glaring at Bikram Bish and alternately placating her husband who looked like he would suffer from an apoplectic reaction and was tugging agitatedly on his mustache.

"Oh Sooni, you will marry me!" Bikram Bish raged. Clearly the guy wasn't used to being thwarted.

"She will not be marrying you dog! She is going to be my daughter in law!" Now Chad's mother had jumped into the fray and seemed ready to do battle. At once Sonny's mom stood up and they both congratulated each other while the fathers grunted to each other in congratulation. Now it was Chad and Sonny's turn to be bemused.

What? No parent had any objection to the marriage? But they were only seventeen and eighteen. Chad glared sourly at Sonny who smiled back sheepishly. He knew no good would come of this. Now apparently the parents were under the impression that a real wedding was going to happen.

Wait, all of this was HIS fault. Sonny hadn't even broached the subject. God damn him and his stupid mouth. Was there no connection between his brain and his mouth? Maybe he suffered from word vomit. Yeah, that would explain it better and it didn't make him feel as stupid.

On the other hand no one was paying attention Bikram Bish who was growing moody, slightly thunderous even, so caught up were they in their congratulations.

"I will be marrying her and I will take the case to the panchyats! Just you wait. Don't you be knowing who I am? I am Bikram Bish. Son of Gabbar Bish the EVIL DACOIT. And I will get married to her!" With that last roar of rage, Bish stormed out of the house.

Sonny and Chad stared after him. That was definitely not good. They had no clue about panchayats and dacoits but they sounded not very nice.

"So when shall we start preparations for wedding?" Sonny's mother asked and all the parents were looking at them expectantly, with wide beaming smiles on their faces.

Sonny and Chad groaned.

This was _so not_ happening.

* * *

**Reference.**

Panchayat – It's a village governing body that settles disputes.

Dacoits – they are robbers basically and sort of predominant in northern Indian villages where this story is set. Well they used to be.

* * *

Does this feel sort of ridiculous and too melodramatic? Well it kind of is because it follows a Bollywood movie type of plot and we Indians like our Bollywood movies with plenty of melodrama. Happy endings are mostly assured though. :)


	8. A Touch of the Sun

Um yeah, four months. I fail at life. How much you want to know? Well in order to write this chapter, I had to go read over my story again. Pretty sad huh? Never mind, updates will not take too long after this. I fully intend to finish this soon.

A small recap – So far, Sonny and Chad find themselves transported to a strange land which Sonny figures out is India. There they each have a set of quite nice parents and since they have been spending a lot of time with each other, something is beginning to bloom. But then, enter the villain of the piece who with his bad accent demands to marry Sonny. But not if Chad had anything to say he will! As a result, Chad and Sonny are now getting married. And now, read on! :)

* * *

**A Touch of the Sun.**

//

Chad stared out into the blue sky, his forehead slightly wrinkled.

He was feeling rather…_well_ blue himself. The sky was bright and the sun was shining but Chad was feeling blue because of his upcoming nuptials with Sonny.

Yeah, he was getting married to _Sonny_ _Munroe_.

Not only that, they were getting married when they were seventeen and eighteen respectively! And to add to that, it was happening in a foreign country, India to be precise and with a set of family members who weren't really their family members. Though in all honesty Chad _did_ think that his not-parents were the best parents in the world.

But still, the problem that he was marrying Sonny Munroe.

And just so you know, it wasn't that he didn't want to marry Sonny Munroe. Chad blushed a bit before continuing with his train of though, it was a very revealing one and even though he was only admitting it to himself, it still was a little odd. He did love Sonny very dearly even though they sometimes had this very antagonistic relationship but the truth of the matter was that Chad would have liked to have married her when she was older and when he was older and when there ahem, more than antagonism between them.

This Bikram Bish fellow was sort of forcing his hand and making him marry Sonny because obviously Chad couldn't have Bikram Bish marry Sonny.

Chad let out a sharp groan of frustration. He had come out here to the field because his not-parents had sent him away so that he wouldn't be in the way of all the preparations. And he had come out here to this particular field just so that he could stare out into the brilliant sky and just float away with the fluffy white clouds. Instead here he was, having a coronary by going over the events of the past few days over and over again.

He sighed and turned over onto his side and contemplated the hard baked ground under him.

A few weeks ago, Chad would have thrown a hissy fit even of the slightest bit of dust had settled on his spotless self.

But now, a few weeks later that is, Chad had no compunctions lying on the dusty ground and he definitely wasn't opposed to doing hard manual labour and here he was getting married to Sonny Munroe.

How things had changed.

On the plus side, his arms were totally acquiring some muscle. He lifted one arm up into the air and fled it, watching his biceps ripple.

Oh yeah, that was totally studly.

However a loud snort quickly brought him out of this euphoria. He didn't even have to look towards the source of the noise to know that it was Sonny. Of all the girls he knew, Sonny was the only one who had no qualms about making un-ladylike noises. Maybe that's reason why he loved her.

"Only you snort like a man Sonny," Chad said with a grin as he sat up. Sonny glared at him but rolled her eyes anyways. Chad grinned some more. Sure he loved her but life just wouldn't be the same if he didn't tease her about something or the other.

"If I snort like a man, then you are as vain as a girl," Sonny said tartly as she came and stood next to him. All the same, her eyes were twinkling as if her responses were just for show.

"Touche." Chad grinned amiably and patted down the space next to him.

This pseudo rude banter had become something of a comforting constant between them.

Sonny sat down next to next to him and stuck her legs out in front of her. Chad looked at her with some amount of interest. She looked like she was bursting to tell him something but something or the other seemed to be preventing her from expressing herself. And he knew that it must be something important because no force of nature could stop Sonny Munroe from ever expressing herself. None at all. And Chad was content to bide his time knowing that sooner or later Sonny would tell him. With sure certainty he knew that she would. He just did.

It turned out he didn't have to wait long at all.

"Chad, I have figured out what is exactly going on." Sonny said taking a deep breath and looking him square in the eye. Chad looked at her bemused. Of course he knew what was going on. There was nothing much to figure out. He and Sonny were getting married to stop Mr. Mustachios from getting to her. It wasn't that hard to figure out really. Poor Sonny. Maybe the weather was doing a number on her. Indian summers were rather hot and brilliant and of course a little too much of the heat did have you seeing things.

"Sure Sonny," he said kindly, just to humor her. After this, he'd take her home and recommend a dose of cold buttermilk to take the edge off the heat.

"I just have one thing to confirm in order to prove my theory." Sonny continued on in the same serious vein and honestly speaking it freaked Chad out a little. Sonny was always sunny and funny. Not morose and gloomy. Well she wasn't exactly gloomy here but Chad liked his rhymes if you knew what he meant.

"When those Elvis's performed at the fair, did you understand their songs?"

That really was a strange question for Sonny to ask, Chad thought as she suddenly sat up straighter. He had understood the song and moreover it had resonated within him as a sort of a lover's lament. However he hadn't told anybody about it, least of all Sonny so it was really quite interesting that she should bring that up.

"Yeah, I did," Chad said carefully, not willing to reveal anymore.

"That settles it!" Sonny said triumphantly as she gripped Chad's hand. Chad winced at the grip at bit. Far be it from him to insinuate but was Sonny going cuckoo crazy from the news of her impending nuptials?

"It all makes sense now. I mean, how else could we be in a strange town where technically no one should understand us but everyone does. I mean, have you noticed how despite the way we look, like absolute foreigners, no one has ever question our parents about our skins colour and all. For Christ sakes, you have blonde hair and nobody even raises an eyebrow? And it's not like we're adopted or something. And that brings me to our parents. How come they are so accepting of us given the fact that we don't even look like them? And then, we understand the language and songs and those songs even sort of like reach out to us despite the fact that both of us have no clue of Hindi. It just doesn't match up but all the same we understand Hindi like we've been speaking it forever or something. And then that cartoon villain shows up and we're getting married her because of him. All this just doesn't add up. It's not real at all!"

Sonny concluded breathlessly.

"Huh?"

Chad was more than confused. Chad was bemused and just plain out speechless. This whole thing had made no sense at all.

"Just what are you getting at Sonny?" He asked rubbing at his temples tiredly. All of the information Sonny had fed him was no swirling around his brain and it was hard to piece everything together especially when they were being so darn floaty and elusive. In his brain that is.

"We are in a movie. A _Bollywood_ movie to be specific."

"WHAT?"

"A movie Chad, an Indian movie. We somehow got transported into one and it's the only theory that makes sense cause we sure didn't come waltzing all the way here just to get married and all that!" Sonny said irritably as she tucked the long end of her sari over her head. However there was no response from Chad. She turned towards him only to find out that apparently, the news had been far too overwhelming for Chad to handle.

The poor guy had fainted.

How tiresome.

* * *

Poor Chad. More coming soon. And mistakes will be fixed tomorrow. :)


	9. Break It Down

I know a reader asked for an early update and while I know this is not too early, hopefully it's not too late either. :)

* * *

**Break It Down.**

//

Sonny sprinkled some water on Chad's face but far from feeling concerned, she was quite cheerfully humming. Chad would wake up soon and there was nothing to worry about really. She absently fanned him all the while contemplating how the next few scenes of the movie they _supposedly_ were in would proceed. Sonny hoped it wasn't anything violent. She hated action flicks. She had no problem watching them though. But it was another thing to be smack dab in the middle of some movie were things were being blown up and guns with blanks were being fired in every direction.

She heard a mumble issue from Chad and she looked down upon him and noticed him waking up. He sat and blinked groggily and then horror dawned in his eyes.

"Sonny! I don't even know if I am getting top billing for this admittedly lame-ass but thrilling movie! It's a tragedy of epic proportions!" And Chad looked truly horrified about it.

Sonny rolled her eyes. Here she had just told him that they had been spirited away into a movie and all the diva was bothered about was the fact that he didn't know whether he had got top billing or not since he was obviously the male romantic lead.

The last three words made Sonny choke a bit. These little moments in which she looked at Chad in romantic light were appearing with an increasing frequency. It wasn't unnerving so to speak but it was a little scary cause here it seemed fine and Chad even seemed a little reciprocal but what would happen when they went back. Would they still be same and would Chad still be that mix of obnoxious and gallant?

Chad's diva fit which was still continuing broke her train of thought. This was a good thing because it was going down the depressing route.

"Whoa Chad, calm down. The important thing now is that we're going to get married and we still have a few movie sequences to get through including a fight scene between you and Bikram Bish, a romantic song sequence and then I think a happy reunion with the family where we're supposed to declare our love and all that kind of nonsense. We have bigger fish to fry!" Sonny said exasperated and a little self-conscious. She hoped Chad wouldn't have a freak out over the romantic stuff. She had purposely kept her voice causal when she spoke about it because feigning indifference seemed much cooler than showing that she actually felt excited about the sequences.

"That's no problem Sonny. Romantic scenes I can ace. I mean, have you not seen me on Mackenzie?" Chad said dismissively, waving his hands around. "It's the action sequences I'm worried about. I'm a romantic hero through and through. Not some balding Bruce Willis type. I mean have you seen Bikram Bish? I may look skinny but I do have some moves. But he looks like a gorilla and I'm sure he's as strong as one too and he will surely squash me like bug." Chad was all glum and also looking a little grossed out. That was probably the bug analogy that was getting to him.

"Oh my god! I hadn't thought about that. He _will_ squash you! Oh Chad, I am so worried for you." Sonny said chewing her lip nervously. "What if you get hurt or something?" Now Sonny felt like crying. She didn't at all want Chad to be squashed like a member of the insect family. He may have been aggravating sometimes but Sonny couldn't have asked for anyone better to be in this drama with her.

"My usual habit would be to say something sarcastic but since you seem to be exhibiting something other than exasperation for me, I have to say I feel like I'm on top of the world!" Chad said with a silly grin. And it worked because instead of looking weepy, Sonny was smiling a slightly watery smile.

Chad put an arm around her and drew her close, "Really Sonny, don't worry about me. If the worst comes to the worst, I can always kick him in the balls and then run for my life."

Sonny sniffled a bit before bursting into giggles. Chad smiled and gave her a hug. This current scenario was making him feel like he was on cloud number nine. It was completely gratifying to see that Sonny did care for him and more than in a perfunctory fashion. This gave him hope for the future cause as soon as they went back to Hollywood, Chad was pulling out all stops and taking Sonny out on a fabulous date that would blow her mind and make her look at him in the light of her romantic savior. For a few moments he savored the dream, soaking it up and basking in it.

"I don't know what I would do without you Chad," Sonny said between giggles and sniffles.

"I know what you'd do. You would be all mopey and sad because I'm not there to light up your life. Wherever the Cooper is at, that's where the party is at."

Sonny stared at him for a moment. Was he being serious? From Chad's face it seemed that he was indeed being completely serious. Sonny groaned out loud.

"Just when I was going to give you a kiss for being so wonderful, you had to go be your _not_ so wonderful self." Sonny groused.

"Were you Sonny, _were you really_?" Sonny stared at Chad in bemusement. It seemed like he was exercising some hypnotic power over her by gazing at her with those soulful blue eyes and floppy hair. Even the mustache didn't take away from the charm of it all. Sonny had to get some space. If he continued staring at her this way, she would be forced to jump upon him and kiss him senseless. And the village people would mostly likely stone them for shameful public behavior. Yeah, here in India, PDA's, especially of the kissing kind were very much frowned upon. Never mind the fact that they were supposed to be getting married. It was still considered wrong to kiss your beloved in public. Their not-parents would never hear the end about it then.

"You will not take me alive with those sparkly blue eyes of your Chad Dylan Cooper! I'm onto your game of wanting me to kiss you and I'm running away so that you can't make me. Ha!" Sonny hastily got up and took to her heels, leaving Chad behind in the dust.

Chad blinked in confusion. He hadn't said anything about kissing at all. He was just teasing her by being all irritatingly enigmatic. But if she wanted to kiss him, why should he be the one to deny her. That would be most un-gentlemanly of him. He smirked at the thought of kissing Sonny. That would be most definitely one of the most awesome moments of his so far fabulous life.

For a moment though his thoughts were assaulted by worry. Chad some healthy self confidence but even he freely admitted that Bikram Bish could squash him and then grind him into fine powder.

Wait a minute! Sonny's not-father had mentioned something about being a wrestler in his youth. He just had to go to him and ask him for a few lessons because he knew for a fact that Sonny's father trained some young wrestlers even now. Problem solved! Under the tutelage of Sonny's father he was sure he'd cut Bikram Bish down to size in no time at all.

Now he could happily go and pursue Sonny and maybe even steal a kiss from her.

Sweet!

* * *

Okay, sort of fillery but it was necessary. Two more chapters to left and they are going to be a wee bit lengthy I think. Coming up, Chad learning how to throwdown. :)

Update will happen on this Friday.


	10. Stolen Hearts

No throwdown but a love song. Translations in bold. :)

* * *

**Stolen Hearts.**

//

"OWWW!" Chad yelled as his back met the dusty ground.

Okay, this learning how to throwdown thing with Sonny's father and his future hopefully _not_ in-law was not going well. So far, Chad's face had eaten dirt; his hair had eaten dirt, heck pretty much every part of his body culmination now with his back had eaten dirt. Oh and also a whole lot of pain cause Sonny's father took his job as a throwdown trainer very seriously. Really, this was one thing people needn't be conscientious about. Every muscle in Chad's body was screaming and his legs felt a bit like jelly and also his blue eyes were watering a lot. That was from the dust okay? Not from the training wringer he was being put through. Chad Dylan Cooper never cried except in emotional scenes to convey his metro sexual manliness. Otherwise he never did. Period.

"Get up beta! That Bish fellow bigger than me and if you cry likes this, he will take advantages of you and then he will marry Sonny and I will be angry and throw you into pond!" Sonny's father roared. That had Chad jumping right up and this time when Sonny's dad launched a punch at him, Chad was able to parry decently and throw one of this own.

For two more hours, Sonny's dad kept ambushing Chad but mercifully Chad had learnt atleast something in the the last few days and he was able to duck and dodge and counterattack decently.

"Hmm. This will do beta. I'm thinking when fight happens tomorrow; you will put up okay fight. If all else fails, you take Sonny and run faraway!" Sonny's father said ponderously tugging on his giant mustaches all the while. Chad could see that this was a difficult decision for him to make, especially to ask his own daughter to runaway and get married. But it was either that or Bikram Bish forcefully taking her and Chad wasn't going to let that happen.

Okay, he was going to win this damn fight by all means. Hook or crook. Whatever it took.

"No worries Uncle. I'll beat him for sure and make him chutney and then I'll get married to Sonny here." This was said in such a triumphant confident voice and it made Chad believe that if he wanted too, and for Sonny's sake he wanted too, he would win the damn fight. Of course this pronouncement also made Sonny's father's face turn a violent shade of purple and before he knew it, Chad was being hugged mercilessly. He manfully hugged his in-law back and winced a little because he was sure that somewhere in his body some bones were crying out as they cracked from the force of the hug.

Suddenly he was thrust back and then Sonny's father harrumphed and tugged at his mustaches some more before going away. He so did not have a handle on emotional moments. Chad winced a bit a but smiled at the retreating figure. Awesome, he had just got the actual induction into the family vote of confidence hug from Sonny's dad.

Now to go and find Sonny and tell her that he was so ready for the fight and that he would fight until he won.

He set off in search of her, whistling a happy cheerful tune.

//

He found Sonny standing amongst the wheat fields looking very wistful and pretty. He stood for a moment and admired the pretty picture she cut. Her bright red sari stood out against the golden stalks of wheat and the sunshine bounced off her hair as it fluttered playfully in the breeze. This was a moment Chad wanted to capture forever in his head. For all he knew, they would never again be in a wheat field especially an Indian one where the sun shone brightly against an azure sky and where golden wheat stalks contrasted beautifully with the lush greenery around it.

Seeing her in this setting made him feel like his heart was singing. He couldn't really place a finger on it but it seemed like everything between them so far had happened so that it could lead up to this one moment where Chad could feel his world tilt on its axis. But he liked it. He enjoyed it. So far, his world had been only him and no one else. But coming here, having parents who actually cared and then learning about yourself and learning a lot more about Sonny had broadened his world. Now Sonny was an integral part of it. Maybe she always had been from the time he saw her but he only realized it now, in this very moment.

//

Rafta rafta, haule haule,  
**Slowly, slowly, softly, softly  
**Dil ko churaya tumne,**  
****You stole my heart,  
**Dil ko to pata bhi na chala******.  
****And my heart never even realized it.  
**Chori chori chupke chupke**********  
****Secretly, secretly, stealthily, stealthily,  
**Jadoo jagaya tumne,**************  
****You wove your magic around me,  
**Dil ko to pata bhi chala.******************  
********************************And my heart never even realized it.**

//

Sonny was now standing in front of him and he never even noticed her sneak up on him. The words coming out of his mouth were melodious and sweet and Chad could understand what he was sninging, as if he was almost meant to be doing it. He had met Sonny quite a while ago. But his feelings for her had snuck up on him unawares and before he knew it, she had him all wrapped around her finger and head over heels.

//

Kabhi ha, kabhi naa hum karte rahe.  
**We kept saying sometimes yes and sometimes no**_,  
_Chupke aahe bhi, bharte rahe_  
_**And sometimes we sighed in secret  
**Dekhate dekhate, ye kya ho gaya**  
****And while we kept watching, look what happened.  
**Rafta rafta, haule haule,******  
****Slowly, slowly, softly, softly  
**Dil ko churaya tumne,**********  
****You stole my heart,  
**Dil ko to pata bhi na chala.**  
****And my heart never even realized it.**

//

Sonny sang back smiling and Chad could feel himself grinning. They had been so contradictory about each other and when the other had not been looking they had admitted to traitorous feelings of like and love which they wouldn't really do otherwise. And after while, look at where it had brought them.

They were in a strange land with only each other for company and yet it had brought them much closer than being in Hollywood ever would and it had driven home a few truths. Like they fact that they actually loved each other despite hiding under the cloak of petty enemies for so long.

Also it felt totally nice to know that feelings for him had totally snuck up on Sonny unawares too. It gave his slightly battered ego a boost to know that he had not been the only one.

//

Raaton main ab, tera sapna, mujhko aata hai.  
**Now in the nights, sometimes I dream of you  
**Ek angdai, ek bechaini, deke jaata hai.**  
****It leaves me with a want and certain loneliness  
**Teri aankhon ka, main deeawana hoon******,  
****I'm crazy about your eyes  
**Tere hothon ka, main paimana hu**********,  
****And I'm the vessel to your lips  
**Tu ye jaane na**************.  
****But you'll never know this.**

//

Wait! That was not supposed to come out at all. Sure that was all true and he was crazy about Sonny's eyes and had sometimes imagined how it would feel to kiss her and he had also dreamed about her plenty more but she didn't need to know that!

All the same it came out, encased in a very pretty tune and Sonny's smile turned into a smirk that had Chad profusely blushing.

Ohmygawd, how embarrassing for him, especially now that Sonny knew all about his dreams and such. Seriously, wasn't there a filter in his Sonny addled brain?

Probably sensing his embarrassment Sonny stepped up and gave him a kiss. Okay, that didn't take away a lot of the embarrassment but it sure did make him feel good especially since she was the one voluntarily kissing him.

Sonny! The very same Sonny who made him kiss a pig once instead of her.

AWESOME!

//

Rafta rafta, haule haule,  
**Slowly, slowly, softly, softly,  
**Dil ko churaya tumnee**  
****You stole my heart  
**Dil ko, to pata bhi na chala******.  
****And my heart never even realized it.**

//

Sonny ended the song with a reiteration of the chorus and it made Chad's heart jump in more ways than one because the chorus was simply this that, he had captured her heart and she didn't even know.

"So I guess that was the song you were talking about," Chad said, his face etched with what seemed to be a permanent smile. Sonny's ending chorus confession of sorts may have played a very big part in that.

"Stop grinning like the cat that ate the canary!" Sonny grumbled, blushing profusely because of the way Chad was smiling. Fine, she liked him okay? And the stupid romantic song had made her admit that. So much for saying that she violently disliked him and all.

"Ha! All you did was admit you liked me. I was the one who admitted to embarrassing stuff their rival for primetime tween tv shouldn't have even known about!" Chad said his face turning red. He was still embarrassed about those admissions. It left him feeling very vulnerable because obviously Sonny would now tease the heck out of him. Coming to think of that, why was he being such an idiot and bringing that up again.

"True! Your admissions were more embarrassing than mine." Sonny crowed happily. She continued to needle Chad and tease him until Chad lost his patience and did what any normal guy would do to shut up a girl he had just admitted to having feelings about.

He kissed her.

_Well_ and _truly_.

_Soundly_ and _thoroughly_.

Good thing for him, Sonny responded in the same way.

And then the wheat stalks obscured them from view.

Because in real Bollywood movies, it was all about the mystery of imagining that two people were majorly sucking face.

Oh yes.

* * *

I know the throwdown didn't happen this time but it's happening next for sure. So this means, there are three more chapters to go. Sigh, I don't make it easy for myself. The song is called _Rafta rafta, haule haule_ and it's from the movie _Hulchul_. It's one of the cutest songs ever and I think it fit Chad and Sonny very well. Of course the song doesn't belong to me. Nor does SWAC.

Next update coming hopefully soon. :)

Mistakes will be edited tomorrow. I am too sleepy and sick now to be coherent.


	11. They Have It All

**They Have It All.**

//

Chad couldn't walk even a step without looking suspiciously over his shoulder. It had been exactly one week since he kissed Sonny and though it had been wonderful to finally be able to do that, he kept expecting Bikram Bish to come jumping out the of the bushes and stand in front of him, laughing maniacally and twirling his mustaches because Bikram Bish was evil and all evil villains who were the possessors' of mustaches twirled them no?

"Seriously Chad, you keep flipping your neck around so fast each time, you'll crack your neck soon enough," Sonny commented dryly as she walked beside. Sure they were kissing and all and had admitted to feelings but that didn't mean the witty banter would stop. Actually that was the mainstay, no the cornerstone upon which their relationship was built and besides as Sonny had often discovered in this past one week, witty banter always lead to make-out sessions so she had no qualms about initiating or taking part in it.

"Very funny Monroe. But it won't be so nice when Bish jumps you and I have to swoop in and save your butt." Chad groused testily as he turned forward to face her.

"_Puh_-lease. It seems like I will be the one saving your butt." Sonny shot back.

"Oh _yeah_?"

"_Oh_ yeah."

And then by natural progression, making out happened. Sonny and Chad didn't mind though and happily applied themselves to it, all former animosity forgotten and they were going at it enthusiastically until a roar made them jump apart.

"I have come for you Sooni!" Bish roared as he indeed jumped out of a bush and faced them, twirling his mustaches maniacally.

"And after I'm done with this phool, you'll have to kiss only me!" Terrible cackling laughter followed this pronouncement. Chad rolled his eyes at this blatant display of evil villainy. Seriously, this was so ridiculous. Almost caricature -ish

"Shut it, Gorilla Grodd. By the time I'm done, you'll be kissing your wounds an crying for your Mommy." Chad rolled up his sleeves, motioned Sonny to move to the side and out of the way and faced Bish with a confidence that seemed tremendous but was slightly shaky on the inside.

Bish spat on the ground derisively and that was it for Chad. He jumped on Bish and began pummeling every inch of Bish that he could find. He rained blows of him hard and fast and Bish spun around in circles trying to throw Chad off his back. It eventually did work. Chad landed on the dusty ground with a hard thump. But he was up again soon. It seemed like Sonny's dad throwing him around had fine-tuned his sense of balance and his centre of gravity couldn't be messed with that easily. He charged at Bish and caught him in the stomach, making Bish howl in pain and toppling him over with Chad now sitting on him and pummeling him. Chad had really hit his stride and was making best use of his strengths. Unfortunately, that was what Bish was doing to. He was able to get up quite easily and he threw Chad back on the floor and then pounced on him and proceeded to beat the shit out of him.

Sonny was growing all the more horrified by the second. At first when Chad seemed to have the upper-hand, she wasn't that worried and she had been enthusiastically cheering him on. She was still cheering him on even now but she was worried that he might get badly hurt, what with the way Bish was using him like a ragdoll.

Chad couldn't even summon the strength to get up now. Bish sitting on him hardly gave him any room to move, clamping his hands by his body's side. And because of that, he wasn't even able to cover his face from the blows that were raining on top of him. He could feel a tooth dislodge and his vision was getting slightly blurry. Oh dear, this was not good.

At that very point of time, Sonny noticing that Chad seemed to be rather out of it decided to jump in on the fight without even figuring out the ramifications of it. She jumped on Bish's back and clung on to him like a limpet, pulling his hair rather hard.

"You had better let go of him right now otherwise I'm going to be making you bald you asshole!"

Bish screamed loudly in pain as Sonny yanked hard on his hair. Already she had a clump of it which she gleefully waved in front of him before going back and trying to pull out some more. Bish staggered up in pain, clutching at his head and all the while Sonny clung on, yanking with a determined look on his face.

"Leggo!' Bish bellowed and Sonny jumped off and pushed him to the side roughly before rushing to Chad who was still lying on the ground prostrate.

"Are you okay Chad?" she asked, her voice quivering as she gathered him in her lap and gently tapped his cheek, trying to gte him to open his eyes. But Chad didn't open his eyes at all and there was no response from him.

Sonny clutched him to her chest and began crying. He was her only link in this world and she loved him. What would she do without him in her life? And they still had to go back to Hollywood. He couldn't leave her all by herself, he just couldn't.

"Wake up you idiot! We have to get married and then get back to Hollywood. I love you Chad, please wake up." Sonny pleaded through her tears which were pouring down her face.

She shook him not too gently but there was still no response.

"Please wake up Chad; I'd be lost with you. Wake up, _please_, I love you and I _don't_ want to lose you!" Sonny was crying rather hard as she rocked back and forth, hugging Chad close to her. This time there was a response.

"Moobs.." Chad groaned weakly and Sonny was delighted. He was awake after all!

"What is it, Chad?" she asked eagerly.

"Boobs. _Glorious_." Chad was much clearer this time and he opened his eyes to find Sonny blushing down at him, tears still running down her face.

"_Perv_. You had me mad with worry." She mumbled, helping him sit up.

"Please Sonny. Like I would ever leave you and go." Chad scoffed. "I love you too much for that."

"I love you too," Sonny whispered eyes shining as she drew him in for a kiss.

"_Ahem_." A loud voice startled them and made them separate. It was Bish who was standing in front of them with a strange look in his eyes.

Chad struggled to stand but it was Sonny who helped him up and stood in front of him.

"If you have to get to him, you have to go through me first," she said grimly. Chad made furious squeaks of protest but Sonny silenced him with a raised hand.

"So what will it be?" She said as she eyeballed him.

To her enormous surprise, Bish broke down in tears.

"That was beautiful. So lovely. Just so romantic." He said, tears dripping onto his mustache. "I may be many things but first and foremost, I is a lover at heart. The love you has is beautiful. I cannot in good conscience drive you apart. Sooni and Chad, you is free to be getting the married. I will interfere no mores."

"Have happy marriage please. I will come and throw the flowers." And with that greeting and a salute, he was off.

"That was…" Sonny began, quite stunned and not knowing what to say.

"Hilarious." Chad broke out in giggles. Sonny glared at him.

"That was rather sweet," she said firmly.

"What? That gorilla beat me within an inch of my life and now you call him sweet? Well I for one am deeply offended Sonny Munroe!" To say that Chad was offended was an understatement. He was downright angry.

"Yeah, I know, I know. Don't get your panties in a bunch. But the fact that he let this whole thing go because he saw that we loved each other was rather sweet." Sonny turned to face Chad who was now, staring into the distance, arms crossed and quite sulky.

"Oh come on, Chad, don't be a baby."

"My girlfriend thinks' my attacker is sweet. How am I _not_ supposed to be offended by that?"

"Fine, you continue like this, and maybe I'll go back to Bish!"

"You wouldn't!" Chad gasped in horror. Sonny stared at him for a moment before cracking.

"No I wouldn't. Because I love you. Get that?"

"I love you too," Chad said sheepishly as he walked over, wincing a little before placing a sweet kiss on her lips.

"Now let's go home and get you all cleaned up and inform the parents that the wedding is on"

//

And indeed the wedding was on. Chad was rested for a few days but as soon as he was alright, an auspicious date and time were picked out and before he knew it, he and Sonny were sitting under a bedecked pandal with a ceremonial fire blazing in front of them and a priest chanting Vedic hymns. The whole affair was rather hot and sweaty, probably cause Chad seemed to be dressed in heavy finery like he had worn for the fair but much more ornate and Sonny was wearing a read, ghagra choli and was drowning under an influx of gold jewelry and fragrant jasmine flowers.

Their parents were standing around them, looking proud while the mothers were looking proud but also weeping happily.

Chad's only consolation was that Sonny was sitting beside him and looking gorgeous. Also, there were going to be rasgullas at the dinner reception. And Chad liked his rasgullas.

The priest made them stand and put a long pink cloth around Chad which he then tied to the end of Sonny's dupatta. They were made to walk seven times around the fire and in the final and binding act of marriage, Chad was instructed to clasp a black beaded necklace with a diamond pendant around Sonny's neck. That was the mangalsutra, the sacred necklace which only a married woman could wear. And then, he was made to dip his finger in a little bowl of vermilion and then put on Sonny's forehead, at the centre of her hairline where the hair parted. With her head marked and the necklace around the neck, the ritual was complete and they were bound together for ever now, until death. Flowers were showered on them along with rice which had been mixed in vermillion powder. True to his word, Bish had been there too and had showered them with his blessings.

They were married now.

//

It was quite a while before Sonny was pushed into Chad's bedroom where his bed had been decorated with a bajillion flowers. Chad was sitting there rather uncomfortably and as soon as Sonny came in, he jumped off the bed and seemed all the more nervous.

"_Look_…" he began, hoarsely because he had been sitting here and imaging what would happen since this was the wedding night. Sure it would be nice and all since he was with Sonny, the one he loved but he was not sure he was ready yet. Really, they hadn't even progressed to third base as yet!

Sonny looked up at him, feeling rather nervous and jumpy herself. _Wedding_ _night_. That word was kind of terrifying. What if Chad was expecting sex and she wasn't ready? _Wait_, she _wasn't_ ready at all!

" _Chad_…"

"Sonny, I can't do this okay? I know we're supposed to do it and stuff since this is our wedding night but honestly speaking, I'm terrified and I'm pretty sure I'm not ready yet. I mean, love you and I have hormones and stuff and they go into overdrive when you are around but I'm just not ready." It all came out in a nervous jumble and for a brief moment Chad envisioned jumping out of the window and fleeing.

Sonny threw off the heavy dupatta which had been draped on her head and beamed at him. "You have no idea how relived I am to hear you say that. I mean, I love you too and I not denying the fact that sometimes my hormones go crazy too, but like you say, I'm just not ready. I mean we got married and then this, it's too much pressure. Also, we haven't even been on a date as yet! So yeah, I am totally fine with nothing happening." Sonny concluded happily.

"But I wouldn't say no to a little make-out action," she told him cheekily. Chad grinned at her and sat down on the bed. "And that is why you are _way_ beyond awesome Sonny Munroe. There's no one else I'd rather be with but you." Chad said as he lightly kissed her cheek.

"So what say, shall we take off these heavy clothes and get into our pajamas?"

"Sweet, you're clothes aren't here yet but I could give you my shortest one and then I'd get to ogle at you."

"How come I don't get to ogle at you Chad? Equality and all that."

"Babe, you just have to say the word and I'd let you ogle," Chad said with a naughty grin as Sonny giggled.

This marriage thing wasn't too bad after all.

//

They spent the night chatting about what they would do when they would get back and the places they would go for their dates. They talked about meeting parents and then maybe even doing a crossover with So Random and deciding whether to keep it a secret or not. The relationship that is. And they wouldn't be keeping it a secret because the suspected that maybe people already knew.

They talked about a million other things, lying in bed, side to side, laughing and smiling.

When they finally went to sleep, it was with a smile on their faces.

They were happy, in love and at peace.

And there was nothing else that they needed because all they ever wanted was each other.

And now they had it all.

* * *

Guide :

Pandal – it's kind of like porch except a make-shit one and all marriage ceremonies are conducted in a pandal.

Mangalsutra – it's a sacred necklace which all married woman wear. And despite whatever caste you are, it's one necklace which all married women wear, even if they don't have money. Then they wear a sacred thread. It's compulsory and there's only one time you can truly take it off, that's when the husband dies. I'm not sure what happens if you are divorced through. My mom is and she still wears it.

Anyhow, the marriage ceremony I described is north-Indian. Down south where I live, it's a little different. But since I didn't exactly specify what kind of north Indian caste Sonny and Chad are, I just gave a general description of the ceremony. There are other rituals that people of different castes follow in addition to these. These are the main ones through and they are pretty similar not matter what the caste. Any doubts though, ask me and I'll clear them.

* * *

One more chapter left. Yay! :D mistakes I'll fix tomorrow. I'm too tired right now.


	12. Reel or Real?

Dedicated to everyone who ever reviewed and a bajillion shoutouts to **PurpleAngel87** for the most splendiferous reviewers ever. :D

P.S - I cant believe I forgot to add this. Stupidstupid me. I also owe many thanks to **faerietaleredux** cause she was the one who gave the idea when one night I was all sleepless and uninspired and asked her for a prompt. It was Bollywood and that's where all of this came from. Without her, this wouldn't have even existed. Thanks, **faerietaleredux**!

* * *

**Reel or Real?**

//

Sonny smiled in her sleep, lips curving wide as she saw her and Chad racing down a sandy beach, close to the water's edge. It seemed that she was chasing Chad who was running clutching on to his head cause god forbid the wind mess it up.

She was close, so close to catching him. Sonny stretched out and arm and promptly fell out of bed. And that woke her up right away. She lay on the floor waiting for Chad's head to peek over the edge of the bed but that never came. Slowly she took stock of her surroundings and she realized that to her horror she was back in her own room, in her _own_ house and in _**Hollywood**_!

And Chad was not there beside her! Last night she got married to him and she distinctly remembered falling asleep next to him. So where was he? She hurriedly went to her dresser to look at her reflection in the mirror.

Her plain and rumpled self stared back at her, confused. There was no sign that she had ever gotten married or even been to India. Here she was in Hollywood, dressed in her cow jammies and wholly unattached.

None of this made any sense to Sonny.

There was only one thing left to do.

Find Chad.

Not even bothering to change, she grabbed her car keys from the dresser and left.

//

No sooner had Chad parked his vehicle at the studio lot and that too haphazardly, he jumped out dressed in nothing but his boxers and a Power Rangers sweatshirt.

He woke up this morning and received the shock of his life.

First off, Sonny was not next to him, sleeping blissfully in his arms like he was pretty sure they were sleeping yesterday.

Secondly, he was back in Hollywood on his own bed in between his thousand strand Egyptian cotton sheets (and still no Sonny.)

And thirdly, he didn't even get to say goodbye to his not-parents and his awesome mustache was gone (and there was still no Sonny!)

What in the world was happening?

Just yesterday night hadn't he gotten married to Sonny after fighting for her hand and winning it from that evil villain Bikram Bish.

He couldn't have dreamt up all of that, could he?

While running through the parking lot, Chad and Sonny met half way and crashed. None of them fell though and instead gripped each other tightly as if each other were their only solid link in this twisted, upside down world.

"Ohmygosh Chad, did you notice, we're back!" Sonny said wildly, gripping Chad's arms tightly.

"I know! I didn't even get to goodbye to the not-parents! What the fuck is happening? I mean, who transported us there and back?" It would suffice to say that Chad was freaking out.

"I don't know! Today I woke up from this awesome dream about you, expecting you to be there right next to me but you weren't and then I look in the mirror and see that I don't even have any vermillion in my hair and we got married last night!"

Sonny was getting a wee bit hysterical. Okay, that was an understatement. And it was telling statement on how Chad was SO freaked out that he didn't even have a vaguely perverted quip about the dream that Sonny had about him.

"I know! I woke up with no you next to me, no mustache and no evidence of my awesome fight with Bikram Bish for your hand! I reiterate, what the _fuck_ is happening with us?"

Suddenly Sonny's eyes brightened. She checked under her night shirt and brought her mangalsutra.

"I still have this on. So last night couldn't have been a dream. But that still doesn't explain anything. Why did we suddenly come back?" Sonny mused, holding the mangalsutra in her hand. They had both slightly calmed down after letting the freak out happen.

"Put that back in!" Chad hissed, looking around wildly for any paparazzi. They would have a field they if they saw Sonny with the mangalsutra and him standing next to her. After all, it was so easy to take two and put ten together even if in this situation they would actually be getting the truth for once.

Sonny put it back in hurriedly. No one else other than her and Chad needed to know about its existence. If other people knew, she knew feathers would fly and Mr. Condor would probably fire them both for hitching themselves behind his back and how could they explain that they had suddenly been transported to India and been made to marry by their not parents?

A random stagehand was walking by and he may have given the strange couple standing in their weird night dresses a look or two but he didn't give it a second thought. He had seen much worse and after all this was a Hollywood, people sometimes walked around naked here.

"What is today's date? Tell me right _now_." What he hadn't expected was the crazy lady to catch hold of him and look at him with a demented look in her eyes. Okay, he was pretty sure Sonny Munroe was only seventeen. Rising star and all that. Did this mean she was going bat-shit crazy in cahoots with Chad Dylan Cooper? Speaking of Chad Dylan Cooper, that guy was watching him like a shark watched unsuspecting fish which was going to be dinner _very_ soon.

"Today is the nineteenth of April." He said evenly before slowly easing himself out of Sonny's vice like clutch and then running away as fast as his legs could take him. He should have just listened to his Dad and got a job back home hauling coal. But _nooo_, he wanted to go to Hollywood and make something of himself.

He was something alright. Prey for crazy stars on a acid trip.

Bah.

//

"Chad, the day we left was the eighteenth. And that stagehand probably thinks I'm a crazy lady who likes cows!" Sonny wailed.

"Well, you are right on both counts."

Sonny glared at him.

"But we did leave on the eighteenth so I'm not wrong."

Sonny glared at him some more.

"You? Crazy? _No_."

Sonny smiled, finally appeased. Okay the stage hand probably did think she was crazy and would never come near her again but she couldn't even. Things were a _little_ crazy right now. She and Chad were probably going to talk and freak out some more but they spotted Marshall and at once they pasted smiles on their face and hooked their arms through each other's.

"Ah, Sonny, Chad. My two favourite people. Glad to see you here bright and early for rehearsal." Marshall said mopping his brow nervously. He had pretty much been sweating buckets since yesterday when he saw them have the epic fight. They were giving him ulcers cause he was worrying so bad. Therefore he was tremendously relieved to see them so amicable this morning.

Marshall sighed. It was probably all a ploy though. He popped another antacid.

"I'll see you in make-up soon," he said miserably, waving at them before setting off to his office for a BIG cup of hot back coffee. He would so need it to get through the day.

//

"That man worries too much." Chad said thoughtfully. "But never mind that. I think what we need to do Sonny is just forget about this whole thing. It may have seemed real in both our heads and I suspect it is but everything else around us seems to have remained the same and I don't think we're going to get any answers soon. Or _ever_. So we might as well forget about it and just chalk it down to one of those _weird_ experiences."

"So you are asking me to forget about the fact that I loved you and married you and all?" Sonny asked with a strange look in her eyes.

"Stupid Sonny. I waited only for like ever to have you kiss me. Why would I ask you to forget that?" Chad asked with a patient air.

"I don't know. I don't even know why I had that stupid doubt." Sonny said, smiling sheepishly.

"I think we had better go get changed. I'm in my boxers and I'm slightly conscious of my chicken legs." Here Chad blushed, pretty much like a girl. Sonny giggled and both of them set off, seemingly having their minds set at ease.

//

Chad and Sonny were rehearsing in the Prop Room when Marshall came by. They were now properly dressed though they hadn't yet gone in for make-up and wardrobe.

"Oh good to see you rehearsing. And I already like that you are wearing the sketch prop Sonny. Way to get in character." Marshall said smiling nervously and mopping his head some more.

"What sketch prop?" Sonny asked blinking confusedly. She was just wearing her normal clothes.

"The necklace," said Marshall pointing at it. "It's for the marriage scene."

Chad stared at Sonny goggled eyed. Until now they thought that the necklace was proof of what had happened. But now the necklace was supposedly a prop.

What did that mean then?

"Excuse us Marshall. We need to go practice some more." Sonny said hastily as she grabbed a still goggle eyed Chad and left behind a bewildered and happy Marshall. Those two getting along so well was already making his ulcer subside. Unless it was all a ploy. He sighed and left the room.

//

"This just doesn't make sense anymore. I mean, we didn't smoke up or anything so that whole little trip to India was not in our heads. But everything here seems to tell us that maybe we just dreamed the most realistic and long drawn out dream of ALL time. Which was a Bollywood movie." Sonny was pacing around in circles and Chad was following her.

"I know! It all seems too real to be just a dream yet all evidence points otherwise." Chad mused thoughtfully. This was like the biggest mystery since him not knowing whether he was auditioning for Spiderman's reboot or not. He was not and since that was soleved, this took precedence.

He was still continuing his circular pacing when he bumped into Sonny who was not mutely pointing at the door, horrified.

Because Bikram Bish was walking through it, villainous mustaches and all.

"Oh fuck." That was all Chad said when he saw Bish walking up to them. Strangely enough, Bish was dressed in jeans and a tee and had a backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Hey guys, could you point me to the So Random set?" He asked looking at a map confused.

"You're o-on it," Chad stammered.

"Oh sweet. Hey, haven't I seen you somewhere?" He asked, his gaze brightening as he noticed the two of them staring at him terrified.

"On TV? Sonny offered helpfully.

"Nah man. Growing up I didn't have TV. Still don't. Wait, I haven't seen you both before. _**But you do look eerily similar to this couple who got married in my town recently**_. Oh by the way, the name is _**Vikram Vish**_. See you around." He said amiably and set off in the direction of god knows where cause Sonny and Chad were too gobsmacked to be paying attention.

"I…I need some fro yo." Chad said weakly.

"Me too." Sonny chimed in, her head in too much of a whirl.

She had no clue anymore as to what was real and what was not.

But it didn't matter. Because Chad was there by her side. _That_ was all that mattered.

//

But what they both did not know was this. That sometimes it didn't matter whether some happenings were real or not. Or in their case, a Bollywood movie.

It was the end result of what came out of those happenings.

In this case, it was two people who finally decided to accept and give in to the truth that had been staring them in the face since the day they met.

That they were _meant_ for each other.

After all, fate had it destined it so.

//

The End.

* * *

Yes, the ending was slightly vague and I know not what many of you all were expecting. It's not solid but it is the ending I had planned all along and this is how I wanted to end, no other way. Hopefully, you all don't hate it too much.

Thanks to everyone who ever reviewed. You guys are especially awesome seeing as you took a chance on this fic. I've enjoyed writing every bit of this and I hope you all did enjoy reading it.

Thanks again everyone, you are more awesome than words can express. :')


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